SARB must take heed of our plight

Last week, one of SA’s most loved actors, Vusi Thanda, went public to request financial donations to keep his landlord from evicting him.

It was an act of bravery and desperation on his part. Adults go through life with the understanding that they must never allow their slip-ups to show. Ours is a culture that demands that we are never seen by others as weak, because they might take advantage of us instead of helping us.

Thanda’s plight is not unique. Artists and athletes in our country tend to suffer the same fate that has befallen Thanda. Earlier in the month, a popular musician was in the news because the SA Revenue Services was attaching his properties because of unpaid taxes.

Even then, artists and sporting personalities should not be seen as black swans. Millions of South Africans face unemployment and an uncertain future. We do not get to know about them because they do not have a public profile. Many hold on to their pride and dignity and refuse to be seen as needy.

Those who are ready to swallow their pride are unlikely to go on a public platform like Thanda did and get the kind of positive response that he has enjoyed. Incidentally, the day Thanda made public his plight coincided with the announcement of the SA Reserve Bank’s (SARB) monetary policy committee that it’ll raise the repo rate by 75 basis points.

As unintended as the two scenarios were, they spoke to each other in very loud voices. Monetary policy has a direct impact on people’s lives. For that reason, it should be something of concern to all of us, whether in the arts, at the factory floor or in the streets looking for a job.

Monetary policy decisions should speak to the fact that many in SA are sinking into poverty and hopelessness. Financial difficulties are masked as personal failings. Being in financial distress is seen as a personal shame and a bad reflection on the person in a cash crunch.

There is no doubt that there are many incidents where the reasons for financial ruin are in the hands of the person now facing poverty. For many others, financial distress is a result of having to manage competing needs on extremely limited budgets. That is why we expect the SARB and the economic pundits to take a moment to reflect on how their decisions and pontifications affect the likes of Vusi Thanda; how they affect the proverbial man in the street.