Things are about to get much worse for the average South African

South Africa is on the verge of being plunged into a further cycle of inflation, with many households struggling to make ends meet amid escalating fuel, food and higher electricity prices.

Following Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe’s decision not to extend the general fuel levy cut beyond the end of this month, experts say the dramatic rise of fuel next month will have a “domino effect” on everything.

According to the Automobile Association (AA), the petrol price is expected to increase by between R1.93 and R1.97 a litre, while diesel is expected to increase by between R1.60 and R1.62 a litre and paraffin by R2.14 a litre.

Political economy analyst Daniel Silke said South Africans are going to feel the effects of what will be a very large petrol price increase, which could result in social unease, tension and renewed political pressure.

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He said it may well be that government will be forced for the wrong reasons – because of public pressure, discontent and possibly even protests – to relook providing some safety net or some sort of benefit for consumers going forward.

“SA government has very limited abilities to provide any protection for the citizens in the face of rising inflation. We know that government is fiscally challenged, we know that there are very heavy costs and borrowing costs to government,” Silke said.

“The only thing which they can give South Africans as any kind of relief is via a continuation of the petrol price benefit that we’ve had over the past couple of months.”

South Africans are being forced to restructure their budgets to make ends meet and survive.

Taxi driver Kwazi Ngcobo said he was already struggling to keep up with the cost of living and was dreading next month as the increases were bound to worsen many other spheres of life for everyone.

“We’re no longer working to save for our children’s future, but we’re simply making ends meet. The cash crunch is real and we’re all going to bear the brunt because the financial hit on all of us is massive,” he said.

“Many more people will be unemployed, many more will be homeless and begging and many other people will be committing suicide due to the pressure.”

An entrepreneur, Sindi Mthembu, said she was forced to close her laundry business due to load shedding and the increased cost of living. The petrol price was bound to affect all other costs because of the poor economy.

“Given the fuel and electricity increase, paired with the endless load shedding, my business would have never survived,” she said.

AA spokesperson Layton Beard said the reduction to the fuel levy had been most welcome as it cushioned the blow, but it didn’t take the pain away and the pain was returning next month.

“What we’ve been asking for consistently is a review of the fuel price in total so that going forward, there may be a sustainable approach to mitigating against fuel price increases than what we currently have with this once-off reduction.”

All Truckers Foundation’s Sipho Zungu said the cost of living was already high and it made no sense that salaries were not complementing the already high food, fuel and electricity prices.

“In a country where the government thinks it’s a good idea to erect a R22 million flag monument to unite the country, what makes them think we want to see the flag while we’re hungry,” he asked.

He also said SA was on the verge of being another Zimbabwe and the major problem was a government which lacked backbone to tackle corruption.

“So, the cost of living will be high because of the petrol increase. On the other hand, employers are not willing to increase salaries,” he said.

“And if they are not willing to increase salaries, basic things like bread and cooking oil will be the most expensive things which many will not afford.”

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za