Location, Pietermartizburg, South Africa
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info@pmbejd.org.za

Author: ejdadmin

New food prices for Joburg, Durban & Cape Town in September 2020

We release new food price data for Joburg, Durban, Cape Town, Springbok and Pietermaritzburg.  Prices are tracked in 44 supermarkets and 30 butcheries which target low-income households.  The average cost of a household food basket in September 2020 is R3 783,16. Read more about the Research Report National HAI, September 2020  

PMBEJD to release a new Household Affordability Index with Food Price data from Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Springbok and Pietermaritzburg.

On Wednesay, 30 September 2020, the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group will release the first edition of our new Household Affordability Index. The deepening food crisis in South Africa, exacerbated by Covid19 compelled us to expand the scope of our Household Affordability Index beyond Pietermaritzburg.  We ran a pilot project from April-August and are…
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Food prices up again in August.

Households are not absorbing the shock of Covid and the lockdown. We are not just going to get out of Covid.   The consequences of Covid will be very severe, will be with us for much longer than we think, and the socio-economic & socio-political disruptions will be very great. Read more…

A call to support the introduction of a Basic Income Grant for workers to invest in a livelihood, create work, to kick-start a new economic trajectory.

The Basic Income Grant discussion is again before us.  We argue in this Discussion Paper that we would need to change our policy mindset around the Basic Income Grant.

Covid-19: Household affordability thresholds now threaten to be further breached – taxi fare hikes major risk.

Imminent taxi fare and electricity tariff hikes present a further threat to being able to put food on the table.

Covid-19: Families may be spending 30% more on food than they did two months ago

Foods in the trollies of families living on low incomes continue to increase.  Families are spending more on food and many have to borrow money to buy this food.  Hunger and nutritional deprivation is deepening.  Questions are raised regarding the adequacy of Government’s interventions to help South Africans during the pandemic.   Covid-19 Research Report…
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Covid-19: Food prices continue to spike; women are getting increasingly concerned.

Report based on latest data as at the 23rd April, which may be of some value in getting a sense of how South Africans, living on low incomes, are experiencing food prices and the lockdown during Covid-19 and what women are thinking about the weeks ahead.  Includes analysis of CSG top-up. Covid-19: Research Paper –…
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The Household Food Situation during Covid-19 and the Nationwide Lockdown

This short paper includes observations from the supermarket floor, the waiting lines, the street, the spaza shop, the taxi, the home, the kitchen, the plate and the stomach. Covid-19: Observations from the supermarket floor

Food prices & public health messages in a time of Covid-19.

Media statement covers food price spikes, DTI Disaster Management Regulations, omissions in DTI Regulations, observations from the supermarket floor, and important public health message. Food prices & public health messages in a time of Covid-19

Budget 2020: Minister, there seems to be an error in your maths on the Child Support Grant?

In the Budget Speech Minister Mboweni said that “The child support grant will increase by R20 to R445 per month.”  But … the child support grant is currently valued at R430 a month.  A R20 increase on R430 raises the child support grant to R450. Budget 2020: Child support grant