{"id":865005,"date":"2026-06-30T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=865005"},"modified":"2026-06-30T16:36:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T14:36:06","slug":"a-desert-town-in-south-africa-where-people-make-r23100-a-month-has-higher-food-prices-than-cape-town-joburg-and-durban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/865005\/a-desert-town-in-south-africa-where-people-make-r23100-a-month-has-higher-food-prices-than-cape-town-joburg-and-durban\/","title":{"rendered":"A desert town in South Africa where people make R23,100 a month has higher food prices than Cape Town, Joburg, and Durban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In June 2026, Springbok in the Northern Cape is the most expensive place among South Africa\u2019s major towns and cities for groceries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this is closely followed by Mthatha, Johannesburg, Mtubatuba, and Durban in KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to data from the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity (PMBEJD) group, which tracks the cost of a household food basket across six towns and cities across South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data is based on \u201con-the-ground\u201d pricing for products across a variety of retailers in major cities, which serve as proxies for the provinces in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PMBEJD report found that while 13 of the 44 tracked food items became cheaper or saw no increases year-on-year, the other 31 experienced price hikes, with eight items seeing double-digit inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s consumer inflation has dipped to 3.5% in January 2026, down from the 3.6% recorded in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest data from Stats SA, the CPI increased to 4.5% year-on-year in May 2026, up from 4.0% in April 2026. CPI increased by 0.7% month-on-month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Food NAB reading for May was 1.7%. Meat inflation cooled in May, recording an annual increase of 7.3% compared with April\u2019s 9.4%. The monthly rate was -0.8%. Stewing beef prices dropped by 3.0% and beef mince by 2.4% between April and May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual increase for these two products was 2.8% and 10.6%, respectively. Inflation for individual quick frozen (IQF) portions also decelerated, declining to 6.7% in May from 7.3% in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the longer-term tracking of the index, month-on-month inflation is currently trending higher, reflecting the continued inflationary pressure from the past few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of June 2026, the average cost of a household food basket in South Africa, comprising 44 essential items that reflect typical purchasing patterns, reached R5,502.42. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost of the average household food basket increased by R59.29 (1.1%) from R5,443.12 in June 2025. Month-on-month, the basket price increased by R23.15 compared to May 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The msot expensive cities and towns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, a breakdown of costs in each city shows that the change in food prices is greater in some areas than others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2026, the household food basket cost R5,945.05 in Springbok, a 3.0% increase of R172.62 from the previous year. This is also R133.98 more than the basket price of R5,811.08 in May.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Springbok\u2019s basket price surpassed the national average by R442.63, making it the most expensive place for groceries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Springbok is a town of the Namaqualand region in the northwest of the Northern Cape, nestled in a narrow valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is surrounded by the high granite domes of the Klein Koperberge and serves as a lifeline for the vast, arid region around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town, located roughly 570 km north of Cape Town on the N7 highway, is an essential stopover for people travelling to Namibia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Namaqualand is so sparsely populated, Springbok serves as the major commercial district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People from surrounding smaller towns, such as O\u2019Kiep, Nababeep, Pofadder, Garies, and Port Nolloth, travel there to obtain their primary food and other supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest tax statistics published by the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the municipality has only 7,898 registered taxpayers with an average taxable income of R278,259 a year, or roughly R23,188 a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is lower than the Northern Cape\u2019s average taxable income of roughly R307,687 annually, or about R25,640 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mthatha is the second most expensive city with a household basket price of R5,744.03, while Johannesburg is third at R5,713.63.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maritzburg came in as the cheapest place to buy food, with its basket costing R5,176.12 in June 2026, due to a significant month-on-month decline of R122.51.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town also overtook Durban to become the second-cheapest city for groceries, recording further decreases compared to the year before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town\u2019s food basket, recorded at R5,298.04, decreased by R99.19 (1.8%) from R5,397.23 in June 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durban\u2019s household food basket of R5,349.33 increased by R37.11 (0.7%) from R5,312.22 in June 2025, and by R64.86 (1.2%) from R5 284,48 in May 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Food basket comparison of several cities in South Africa for June 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June 2026, a notable city in the Northern Cape is the most expensive place among South Africa\u2019s major towns and cities for groceries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":865061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[19982,853,22730,1809],"class_list":["post-865005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-pietermaritzburg-economic-justice-dignity-group-pmbejd","tag-south-africa","tag-springbok","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865005"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865062,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865005\/revisions\/865062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}