The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) ๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐น ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐๐.
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.
