Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
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Balancing act: As a country heavily reliant on imported fuel and road transport, increases in diesel and petrol costs affect everything from farming and food processing to distribution and retail. Photo: File
AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS ANC

South Africans hit hard by the rising cost of living

As fuel prices increase, interest rates soar and food prices hit through the roof, citizens face tough times with many households battling to put food on the table

  • M&G Reporters
15 min read
Consumers are angry that the government is treating them like a cash cow instead of fighting corruption and improving its fiscal discipline. File photo by Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images
BUSINESS

Survey shows food prices soaring above headline inflation

National minimum wage earners can’t afford sufficient nutritious food to feed their families

  • Lyse Comins
6 min read
Feast: ‘Seven colour’ Sunday lunches are now a thing of the past for many households because of rising food prices.
ECONOMY

No more seven-colour Sundays

Thembisile Mthembu tells her story of how she grew up on seven colours but all she can afford is a two-colour Sunday meal

  • Lesego Chepape
3 min read
How much is your chicken? (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)
FOOD PRICES

South Africa’s middle class endures rising cost of living

The financially stretched middle class is teetering on the brink as fuel and food prices gnaw at their disposable incomes

  • Sarah Smit
10 min read
It’s time to fashion a new language of development which responds effectively to real people’s real needs
ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE

Covid-19 stymies six years of progress in tackling poverty in Gauteng

Some 36% of Gauteng households live in poverty, according to a new survey, with poverty levels having shot up during the course of the pandemic

  • Eunice Masson
3 min read
The official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), said it does not support a permanent expansion of the grant system at this stage.
BASIC INCOME GRANT

R350 grant: A ticket into the labour market — report

The Covid-19 social relief of distress grant was terminated at the end of April, but research shows it aided job recovery

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
Entrepreneurial: Kamo ‘Skanju’ Mogajane and Thabang ‘Mafufa’ Molebatsi, from Katlehong, started their own business when they failed to find jobs. They own a clothing brand called Izinja. (Andy Mkosi)
CHINA

GDP, recession, JSE, rallying rand … these terms mean very little to unemployed South Africans. This is the real picture of our economy

The economy is not producing work, with many young adults working outside their fields of study or considering leaving the country as a result

  • Khaya Koko
  • Bongekile Macupe
12 min read