Jasmine Uys, Alicedale
I wonder if it's only me, or did anybody else also notice how expensive everything is lately. In a very short period of time, the cost of living just went sky-high.
If you go to the shop today for something, next week the same item is, not a few cents or a R1, but a few rands more. Even the sale prices are just so expensive. And the more you pay for stuff, the less value you get. It's like with Eskom: the more you pay for electricity, the more load shedding you get.
You pay more for less. For instance, we used to get the 1kg Cremora for about R30; now it's over R50 for 750g. The same can be said about coffee. It used to be a 1kg tin for about R60 not so long ago; now it's 750g for over R70. I can go on and on.
Now some of us can still (just about) afford to buy some of these things, but what about the people who are unemployed, the people that must survive on a government grant of R350 or R600, a month?
Even the basics like bread and milk are just so expensive. Even the R10 bread is now R11. Now if you have the money and get a fat salary every month, R1 is nothing, but if you are unemployed and struggle to survive, it's a fortune. But what is the reason for the high cost of living?
The pandemic is over, so is it because of the high petrol price? If so, why don’t the government take the levy off the price of petrol - why is the levy there in any case? Or is it because of load shedding? If so, why doesn't the government do something about it? If they can't do something about load shedding, then do something about the high prices: help the businesses, give them tax relief or something, subsidise basic foods, but just do something.
At least try to show some care for the people of this country, instead of fighting each other all the time.