The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity (PMBEJD) yesterday called fort eh reinstatement of social grant top-ups and the Special Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant amid elevated food prices and as the country grappled with the third wave of the pandemic.
The PMBEJD said that, according to its Household Affordability Index, over the past 10 months, the cost of the average household food basket had increased by 7.1%, or R271.90, to R4 128.23 in June.
The organisation’s programme co-ordinator, Mervyn Abraham, said in a media release yesterday that mothers had told them that high food prices have hollowed out the provision of proper nutrition for their families.
“This has removed an important line of defence against Covid-19 and other common illnesses, and children and women are more vulnerable to disease. It is likely that the long queues of hungry people that we saw in the first and second waves requiring food support will again come to pass, because the state has taken away all income support, wages have not gone up, unemployment levels remain untenably high, jobs continue to be lost, and food prices have gone up.
“At the very least, government should reinstate the support that was given in the first and second waves, bring back the top-ups to the grants and the Covid Special Relief Grant,” said Abrahams.
