‘I’m 29 years old, going on 80. I wish I was dead already.” Hearing this from a 29-year-old struggling to make ends meet is enough to make you cry.
Yet, for Chris Badenhorst and so many other South Africans that find the going tough, it is a daily grind as food prices, fuel hikes and numerous other expenses just keep hitting hard where it hurts – in the pocket.
For Badenhorst, the cost of living has dealt him such a blow he had to resign from his job because the travelling expenses surpassed his income.
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He said: “Eighty percent of my pay went to petrol, to the point where I didn’t have extra to buy plastic bags at Checkers for my groceries.”
Badenhorst added: “I have lost everything, every last thing. I even had to move back to my parents’ house and now live in a Wendy house in the backyard with nothing to show.”
Badenhorst sadly was in a better position than most.
At least he had a job, and has his parents to fall back on. So many others, especially the youth, can’t even find a job.
Putting food on the table is not an option as long as the unemployment levels remain so high.
The saddest part of it all is that it is expected to get a lot worse before it gets better…
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