It doesn’t add up
“Sisi, I don’t know what they are trying to do, but they are killing us.”
The young petrol attendant shakes his head woefully as he fills up my car. We are sharing our lament about the cost of living.
Earlier this month, South African consumers staggered as they had to stomach the biggest fuel price hike in history. It was reported this week that another fuel increase is looming in November. Economists therefore predict we may be facing a bleak festive season.
Contemplating my midmonth budget this week, I couldn’t spare myself feeling morose. Scanning some news updates however I had to confront the validity of my concerns about my own personal balance sheet.
Two men, 27 and 34 years old, have been found guilty of killing 16-yearold Matlhomola Moshoeu in the case dubbed the Coligny sunflower murder. The men reportedly assaulted Moshoeu after accusing him of stealing sunflower heads from their employer's sunflower plantation in April 2017.
Mosewu was found lying in a gravel road with a fractured skull. The men claimed that he jumped off their bakkie on their way to the police station.
In court, they were asked how many sunflowers were stolen and what the value of one was. The answer was that there were about five or six sunflowers and that it cost about R60 to R80 for each sunflower head.
A Tembisa man (25) on Monday, killed and mutilated his sister (28) and her 13-month-old baby following a quarrel over R20. They rented a room which they shared. Details of his alleged crime are unrepeatable.
Last Sunday, in an open field on Queen and Gentswana Streets in KwaNonqaba, two young girls, aged 10 and three, witnessed their unconscious mother being raped by her boyfriend. Allegedly, the couple argued about money she owed the man, which led to the woman being assaulted and raped. An accomplice, the suspect’s friend looked on. It was 10:00 in the morning.
Growing up and living in the Free State in the 80s and 90s, my favourite time of year was when the sunflower fields were in full bloom. Often, driving back to university after a weekend at home, I would stop my Ford Bantam on the side of the road, lean over a fence and pick armsful for myself and my friends to bring some sunshine into our drab rooms in the ladies' residence in the city.
No one batted an eyelid.
Did Matlhomola Moshoeu have to pay the penalty of having his skull cracked for picking sunflowers? Did slitting the throat of his 28-year-old sister appease the angry brother quarreling over R20? Is the woman’s debt now settled after being raped in front of her children?
How can you make sense of the cost of living versus the cost of a life in a country where fuel is expensive and a life is cheap?
A litre of fuel and a life basically costs the same. And that just doesn’t add up.
* Judgment in the Coligny sunflower murder was passed yesterday and the verdict was still unknown at the time of going to press.