The rising cost of living in SA has become a runaway train, and if we don’t stop it, it will become another “pandemic”. President Cyril Ramaphosa, his government, the rich and big business have the responsibility to stop it, or one day we will live to regret it. All the signs are there; this is another ticking time bomb that will explode in our faces if we fail to act now. All this comes on top of the pandemic we have been battling for the past 20 months. How much more can people take?
It is a well-known fact, globally and here at home, that the pandemic has caused terrible damage in all our lives. People are still trying to make sense of the loss already suffered, and to recover from the trauma we all have been through.
People have lost loved ones, jobs, their businesses and livelihoods. Our economy has been battered and bruised and the rate of unemployment has soared dramatically to record heights. Research shows our citizens have become poorer, and I don’t need to be an expert at economics to understand these distressing statistics.
People are suffocating under the heavy load of these increases as they try to live and support their families
The Pietermaritzburg Economic, Justice & Dignity group has found that food price inflation for poorer households has increased 10% over the past year — far above the headline consumer price index of about 5%. More and more South African households are getting poorer as food prices and the general cost of living continue to rise. These are people who are trying to rebuild their lives and contribute to the health of our society. Many of the gains we made from the dawn of our democracy over the past two decades have been destroyed by the pandemic.
The greatest threat posed by poverty is the sustainability of our democracy. As stated in one of our new democracy’s founding documents, the Reconstruction and Development Programme, “no political democracy can survive and flourish if the mass of our people remain poor, without land and without tangible prospects for a better life”.
Poverty and inequality are ultimately the biggest threat to our democracy and the unity of SA. Unfortunately, this unity is coming undone as poverty increases despite the rising social wage. Our country is one of the most unequal societies in the world — what a sad label to have. We can do better by improving people’s lives.
It is these facts and statistics that make the recent back-to-back increases in petrol, diesel and paraffin a bitter pill to swallow. As if that was not enough, the Reserve Bank increased the repo rate by 25 basis points. This increase is affecting people who are already battling to survive. People are suffocating under the heavy load of these increases as they try to live and support their families. We can’t allow this to continue unabated; it will hurt our already damaged economy.
When petrol, diesel and paraffin go up it affects all the basics that people need to function — transport, bread, milk and fruit. All these necessities continue to increase, particularly affecting the poorest of the poor. We appreciate the R350 social relief of distress grant that people are receiving during the pandemic, but it is time for us to relook at everything collectively as South Africans.
These increases are also destroying the capacity of the middle class to support our economy with their buying power and job creation. Small businesses are closing in huge numbers in the townships where the government is trying to build the economy. Big business has also not been spared, but its advantage is that it can pass the cost on to the consumer. This has become a vicious circle that we must stop now.
The government, labour, big and small business, civil society groups and the religious sector must sit around the table and find ways to cushion our people from the rising cost of living. We cannot afford to sit back and watch people suffer. The only hope we have is of working together to pull our country out of this misery. In fact, we have no choice but to work together in unity in the midst of our diversity.
God bless SA.
• McCauley is the president of Rhema Family Churches and chair of the National Religious Leaders Council
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