South Africans are feeling the weight of relentless price hikes, with soaring taxi fares, rising food costs, a VAT increase, and steep municipal tariffs on the horizon. Many are already living below the breadline, and as financial burdens grow heavier, more people are being pushed to the brink of despair.
Cassey Chambers the Operations Director at the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) says that in these turbulent times mental health must be a priority and individuals must know how to access mental health support.
“When people are struggling to afford basic necessities, their emotional wellbeing often suffers too. “We know that financial stress can have a serious impact on mental health, and we see this through increased call volumes each and every day, from people who are calling in, who are worried about money, who go into debt, who are stressing about how they're going to pay for things as well as their jobs and school fees. All of that adds to increased anxiety and depression and feelings of hopelessness. When people are struggling to afford basic necessities, their emotional wellbeing often suffers too.”
Chambers says it's important to start conversations about the impact of money worries and to let people know that when it feels all too much, they can reach out to SADAG and talk to a counsellor for free.
Towards the end of 2024, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) said South Africa had an unemployment rate of 32%.
In Durban where residents are already feeling the pinch of rising costs, the eThekweni Municipality this proposed eye-watering tariff hikes, saying it had no choice as the money was needed to revitalise ageing infrastructure, and the essential tariff adjustments were “well calculated” to ensure both cost-effectiveness and affordability for residents and businesses.
If the proposed budget is passed, electricity will increase by 12.72%, water by 15% for households and 16% for businesses. Domestic refuse removal will go up by 9.9% and for business by 9%. Sanitation will increase by 13% (domestic) and 14%(business).
“These adjustments are essential for ensuring the sustainable delivery of essential services and the long-term viability of municipal infrastructure. The capital budget will focus on addressing backlogs in basic service delivery and the critical renewal of existing network services, with a particular emphasis on water and sanitation,” it said.
The Minara Chamber of Commerce has warned that even more jobs could be on the line.
Ebrahim Patel the Chamber’s president, warned that the increases could lead to job losses and have a significant impact on business. “These rates are far higher than inflation and cannot be absorbed by businesses that are operating in the current weakened economy”.
Patel noted that businesses still had to contend with the 0.5% VAT increase which would further raise costs when it came into effect next month.
“We have seen businesses, particularly those in the food and manufacturing sectors whose electricity costs now outstrip their rental costs. These increased costs will ultimately be borne by the consumer and may lead to declined sales. The Chamber is concerned that increasing costs in a climate where consumers have less disposable income could ultimately lead to businesses closing and job losses.”
While the outlook seems bad right now, Dr Ntokozo Nzimande, an economist based at the University of Johannesburg said it would get worse.
Apart from the VAT hike markets were still reeling from the Trump administration’s tariff war and the 30% increase leveled against countries including South Africa, was just the start. “Trump has been saying that there's a lot of bad things happening in South Africa and they cannot, as the US, be complicit to that.”
Nzimande said that it may make matters worse because the current 30% tariff will negatively affect the economy’s growth.
“Our economy was already struggling before these tariffs were imposed.
So now this will affect the competitiveness of our exports, and obviously, that will have a consequence on the unemployment levels. We'll see unemployment shooting up even more because of these rising global tensions. And after the tariffs were imposed, other countries are still looking at how best they can respond to these tariffs, meaning that this trade war or tariff war is likely to escalate and the effects or the consequences of escalating this tension would be worse, not for South Africa only the global economy.”
Mervyn Abrahams from the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group(PMBJDG) says it will become increasingly harder to put food on the table as the price of food continues to rise along with other living costs. “As indicated in our March Household Affordability Index, a food basket containing 44 basic foods increased by R16,14 (0,3%), from R5 313,22 in February 2025 to R5 329,36 in March 2025. Year on year it marked an increase by R51,43 (1,0%), from R5 277,93 in March 2024 to R5 329,36 in March 2025. This underlined the fact that food continues to rise along with other living costs,” he said.
Taxi organisation Santaco said their usual price hike came in July but unlike the R1 or R2 price hike for local trips and up to R20 for long distance journeys this time the fares were likely to increase by much more. Santaco KZN spokesman Spha Ndaba said
“You need to think about your operating costs which involve your maintenance as petrol hikes but also think of your customers and their affordability.”
Ish Praladh from the Thekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association has warned of looming civil disobedience. He said protests have been planned to show the Council that they won't just take the increases.
Rose Cortes from the eThekwini ratepayers Protest Movement said they would be objecting to the tariff increases. “ We simply can’t continue to accept and enable the non performance of city leadership. We continue to reward their bad behaviour.
The ERPM will be objecting to the tariff increases as well as the proposed budget which is up R6 billion from last year. They blew through a R65 billion budget in 6 months and we have nothing to show for it,” said Cortes.