As if South African consumers aren’t struggling enough to make ends meet, Programme Coordinator at the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group Mervyn Abrahams said consumers can expect to pay even more for their basic food necessities.

“We expect that a basket of food will for the first time cross the threshold of R5,000,” said Abrahams.

He further added, food commodity prices are coming down globally. However, the cost of petrol affects the price not withstanding rolling blackouts.

“The question we have to ask is where in the food value chain is these food increases coming from, but we theorize that businesses and farmers are having to invest massively in solar, diesel or generators and they are going to the banks to get these finances and the reserve bank has increased the interest rate and so these businesses are passing the increase onto the consumer,” explained Abrahams.

According to Abrahams the current situation is not novel and has happened in the United Kingdom before.

“We suspect that food companies are structured in a way that they can monopolize the system and a commission of inquiry is needed to shine a spotlight on it and in turn see the price of food drop,” stated Abrahams.

VOC