Members of the Democratic Alliance (DA) voiced their concern about the worsening cost of living crisis that is leading in South Africa, especially in the Eastern Cape.
They hosted a march to submit a memorandum at the Department of Social Development in Butterworth, last week. According to Chief Whip of the official opposition in the National Assembly, Siviwe Gwarhube, the tragedy that struck the Tholeni Administrative Area in Butterworth in August this year, where a mother allegedly poisoned her three young children before taking her own life, was apparently motivated by extreme poverty.
She said that if the fuel increases it means the taxi and bus fare will also increase and that will affect the community. Gwarhube said that people from South Africa are really struggling, and government has some means of fighting this problem.
“We are saying that government should make sure that the money is going straight to the people. As the minister for Finance, Enoch Godongwana, will be tabling his budget in November next month, we want to make sure that we see the change, because South Africans are not supposed to live like this.”
She said that people need jobs and the government is supposed to make sure that people get jobs, instead of giving them the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant of R350.
Among the solutions that were given by the DA in their memorandum, were that government should cut taxes and levies on fuel to reduce the cost of transporting food, re-allocate the R50 million food aid for Cuba to feed hungry people at home, identify available land at community centres and schools for food gardens, and invest more in subsistence farming as a poverty-alleviation strategy that can increase household food supplies and income.
The member of Parliament, Democratic Alliance Eastern Cape Shadow MEC for Social Development, Kobus Botha, promised to hand over the petition to parliament in Bisho, since the District Director for Department of Social Development in Butterworth did not come to accept it.
One of the community members, Bulelwa Ngoza, said that even though she is not a member of this party, she is supporting them because this problem is affecting everyone.
“Our government is failing us; while prices are going up the money value is going down. We must all stand up and fight this,” said Ngoza.
