Nothing goes right under the ANC-led government

There is no hope that this country is to get out of its current economic quagmire any time soon.

Instead, we are witnessing how things are getting worse by the day. Just when we were trying to come to terms with increases in the repo rate and the resultant interest rate hikes, we were hit with a massive fuel price rise.

This is a dizzying environment to think about. Whether you are poor or rich, petrol and food prices affect you, but the poor are the hardest hit because they have nothing to cushion them from the situation.

It might make little impact to the wealthy who obviously have financial reserves to resort to, but the destitute won’t cope.

Increases of R2.43 for 93-octane petrol and R2.33 for 95 are too much for the already squeezed motorists. Worse still, diesel is up by R1.10, paraffin by R1.56 and there is 51c/kg increase in gas, effectively from Wednesday.

The poor and farmers are not immune from this shock – the destitute will struggle to pay for public transport and farmers will resort to hiking the prices of their produces.

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All that will come back to the consumers. The extension of the R1.50 per litre fuel price reduction until July, as proposed by the state, is never going to be enough.

They would have done better not to have increased anything. According to chief economist at Antswisa Transaction Advisory consultancy, Miyelani Mkhabela, individual and business consumers will be at the receiving end of the increase.

He says businesses in manufacturing, retail and mining are expected to be affected more as the movements of their products will cause an increase in prices.

“Individual consumers will be affected on their daily routine to work.

“Fuel prices went higher with about 25% in 2022 and consumers are still stuck with the salaries that are increased in line with inflation,” Mkhabela says.

To deal with this, he advises South Africans to manage credit facilities better as that will affect the South African banking sector in the short term.

“Consumers need to cut expenses and focus on important products needed.”

From my political point of view, the government will not feel the pressure or anger of the people. They know South Africans do not fight for that which matters the most.

We just pay. It is rare, if at all, to see our citizens standing up against fuel and food price increases. I don’t recall a post-1994 national consumer boycott.

Even just prior to our democracy, consumer boycotts were only used as a weapon against apartheid oppression and to deal with business intransigence, not against food and fuel hikes.

Mkhabela is of the view that while South Africa has added 370 000 jobs in the first quarter of 2022, the fall in unemployment rate doesn’t mean SA’s livelihoods crisis is about to end.

There is plenty evidence to show there is a lot more going wrong under the democratic order.

From Eskom load shedding, potholes that have become a common feature on all our roads and dead rail networks, to malfunctioning and poorly performing airlines, among others.

That’s not to mention the ongoing gender-based violence, corruption, and endemic crime.

This raises the question: is there anything that will ever go right under this black-led government?