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<\/p>\nOn any given weekend in South Africa there\u2019s the smell of shisa nyama — the Zulu term for traditional barbecues or braais — wafting across cities, townships and rural locations.<\/p>\n
But the cost of the typical fare that makes up a shisa nyama is rising faster than official inflation, highlighting the stark reality that low-income earners are suffering the most in South Africa \u2014 one of the world\u2019s most unequal nations.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg\u2019s new Shisa Nyama Index shows the average price of a backyard barbecue in the likes of Soweto, a black township on the outskirts of Johannesburg, jumped 11% from a year ago. That compares with a 7.6% year-on-year increase in consumer prices in October, as measured by Statistics South Africa.<\/p>\n
Crunching data from the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity group, the index tracks the prices of some of the key ingredients in a shisa nyama \u2014 corn meal, onions, carrots, tomatoes, curry powder, salt, frozen chicken portions, beef and wors \u2014 a type of sausage made from a variety of ground meat offcuts.<\/p>\n
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To compile its\u00a0survey, the PMBEJD\u2019s data collectors track food prices on the shelves of 44 supermarkets and 30 butcheries that target the low-income market in the greater areas of Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg and the northwestern town of Springbok.<\/p>\n
The index is a window on the impact of inflation on South Africa\u2019s most vulnerable consumers, with even just the cost of onions rising faster than the price of fuel. The eye-watering vegetable\u2019s price rose 23% month-on-month and has climbed 78% in a year. Over the 12 months, the cost of diesel increased 53%.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 10 kilograms of onions, I now pay R120 ($7), where it used to be between R39 and R50, and I don\u2019t know why, it\u2019s not like they\u2019re coming from Russia,\u201d said Oyama Ndaliso, who owns Papa Ron\u2019s Shisa Nyama in Woodstock, a low-income suburb in Cape Town. \u201cIn the store, I now have to have two sizes of stews for sale because people can\u2019t afford as much, so they\u2019re going for smaller portions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The surge in South African living costs is exacerbating public anger over record power cuts, rampant unemployment and poverty. It raises the risk of a repeat of deadly riots that erupted in two provinces last year and claimed 354 lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cInflation always has the biggest impact on the poor,\u201d said Frank Blackmore, lead economist at KPMG. \u201cThe reason for that is they don\u2019t have options in terms of delaying expenditure. Most of the income that\u2019s earned by the poor is required for immediate consumption. That is one contributor to what could be an unrest sort of situation at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n
The total cost of buying all of the supplies in bulk to prepare a shisa nyama for friends and family has risen 24% to R1,756, from R1,414 in January 2021. While that number may seem cheap after a currency conversion, it\u2019s best compared to South Africa\u2019s national minimum wage, which would have had a general worker earning R3,895.92 in October, according to the PMBEJD survey.<\/p>\n
To adapt and cling on to customers, retailers like South Africa\u2019s Pick n Pay Stores Ltd. plan to more than double the pace of low-cost food and clothing store openings in the next year. It\u2019s the same sort of strategy as Shoprite Holdings Ltd., Africa\u2019s largest and typically low-cost supermarket chain, which has been investing in local stores to battle increased competition.<\/p>\n
Ndaliso, who started his shisa nyama outlet during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and is now starting to break even, has had to innovate and find new markets to survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cFortunately, we got signed up to Uber Eats,\u201d he said. \u201cShisa nyama is very in demand, and people on holiday here are ordering from their hotels. Covid did well for me because I had no choice. I was retrenched, so I took all my money and opened this restaurant. That was brave — it was my last money.\u201d<\/p>\n