Grant increase an insult

THE LOW pensioners’ increase of R95 is a pittance.

How can a pensioner live with a pittance of an increase that is literally swallowed by an increase of VAT to 15%? The budget presented by the Minister of Finance Malusi Gigaba does not address the fundamental social and financial challenges of the day-to-day needs of all.

The poor and the vulnerable have unfortunately become the sacrificial victims of government financial interventions in corruption, state capture and maladministration in state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The pronouncement of a pathetic R95 increase for pensioners is an absolute insult to the very same people who have toiled the soil of South Africa all their lives to build our nation, only to be rewarded with an insult. The financial reality is that the cost of living is unaffordable. The latest price barometer shows there has been a hike in basic food items.

A basic food basket is estimated at between R1 689 and R2 242.

Hence the cost of food prices increased by 4.5% in January when compared to the same time last year.

An average utility account of a pensioner for rates, electricity, water and sewage disposal equates to an average of R1 700 per month.

This effectively makes the life of the vulnerable pensioner economically difficult.

How can we survive within the current economic surge?

Pensioners have already cut down on their food basket and are now faced with a renewed balancing act of redefining their priorities with this pittance increase.

It is blatantly clear that the poor and vulnerable are once again overlooked in this budget and the sad reality is that all the elected public representatives, who blow hot air in Parliament, have failed them dismally. PATRICK PILLAY Leader of the Democratic Liberal Congress