Consumers in 'need of protection' against rocketing food prices
The price of the average household food basket has increased by around R460 over the past year.
This represents a 10% rise.
The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group says this means the average cost for a household is just over R5 000.
The group's Mervyn Abrahams says the cost is above what a worker on the national minimum brings in monthly.
"Such a wage would have brought in something in the region of R4 500. What this indicates is that households are under tremendous stress."
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"They are not able to afford sufficient and nutritious food. The trolleys are getting smaller and smaller and that is having a major impact on household food insecurity."
Locally, the Durban food basket increased by R159,92 month-on-month, while Pietermaritzburg's decreased marginally by R27,56.
Abrahams says the solution is to bring inflation down.
"The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group calls on government to convene a meeting will all the players in the food system to begin to identify exactly where in the food system these increases are coming from and what kind of support businesses require in order to bring down food prices, while simultaneously provide some level of increase social security for those households who are food-insecure at the moment."
