PROTECTION CALLS
NEVA MAKGETLA: Poor families bear brunt of wheat tariffs
The underlying problem is SA doesn’t have the right environment for wheat and climate change makes it worse
A normal South African family, one that earns around the median for the country, lives on R3,500 a month and spends a quarter of that income on food. For the poorest 60%, the bulk of that spending is on a few commodities: maize, bread, chicken, vegetables. So it’s distressing that in 2016, SA imposed tariffs that raised the cost of wheat by about a third. With this kind of policy in place, it’s not surprising that the price of bread has risen by about 2.5% above inflation over the past five years. The tariff was introduced for the usual reasons. Essentially, SA’s inequalities in economic power let a few rich people tip the balance on policy decisions by deploying lawyers, economists, lobbyists and publicists. Meanwhile, working people mostly have to rely on their politicians and officials to do the right thing.But pity the poor public official in these circumstances. In the face of an avalanche of misleading technicalities, hyped claims and overheated media campaigns, it’s not easy ...
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