The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀.
The Household General Survey shows that two-thirds of workers in the country use road transport. Since road transport vehicles depend on fuels as sources of energy, the increase in fuels will impact individuals represented in these figures, from those who use public transport, lift clubs, and private vehicles.
The Household Affordability Index (HAI) shows that the sustained inflation rates in the past few years have led to the high cost of household food and hygienic baskets. The cumulative increase in electricity tariffs for the past 17 years, reaching about 700%, has made electricity expensive. In some metropolitan cities, 1 KWh of electricity has risen to R3.50. Interest rates rose above the pre-pandemic levels and two-fold from the historic lows of the pandemic levels to new highs at 11,75% at the prime lending rate. The aggregation of all these factors means the continuous rise in any of these consumer items exacerbates the rising cost of living.
The increase in fuels (including electricity) is even worse because they are also used by firms as inputs. In other words, as part of input costs, a rise in their prices has an inflationary effect on other consumer goods.
All these factors make life impossible for the working class while the economic elite is emulated from this crisis of cost of living by their hefty incomes, precisely because capitalism has concentrated wealth in their hands. They have used their wealth to opt out of the public services sector, have solar panels on their rooftops, and private security.
