MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

ANC Government Ignores the Inflation Crisis

Dear Editor

The ANC’s reckless economic policies have once again hit South African households where it hurts most – in their wallets. Today, the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee announced an increase of 25 basis points in the repo rate, meaning the cost of servicing debt will increase at a time when our country is already reeling from an ANC government-induced cost-of-living crisis.

The announcement comes as a measure to contain the damage caused by the anti-poor fiscal policy framework of the ANC and the party’s failure to implement measures to combat rapidly rising prices. The shocking inflation statistics released last week reveal the true extent of the crisis – year on year inflation for overall goods has skyrocketed by 10.1%, with transport prices increasing by a staggering 13.9% and food and non-alcoholic beverages by 12.4%.

The price of bread, a basic food item, has risen more than 20% in 2022 alone.

But the ANC government doesn’t care. Instead of implementing fiscal policies to soften the blow of rising prices and continuous power outages, they have chosen to bail out bankrupt state-owned enterprises and prop up their patronage networks.

The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, has even rejected the DA’s much needed and practical proposals to cut the fuel levy, introduce a solar tax rebate, and expand the zero-VAT rated food basket to include essential items such as bone-in chicken, beef, tinned beans, wheat flour, margarine, peanut butter, baby food, tea, coffee, and soup powder. VAT on these items disproportionately impact the poorest 50% of South Africans who are already battling to put food on the table.

It is clear that the ANC government is far removed from the harsh reality of hunger and starvation in our country.

The DA will not stand idly by while they continue to play politics with people’s lives. We will increase pressure on the government to implement workable economic policies and urgently address the cost-of-living crisis, especially the cost of food.

The time for empty promises and electioneering is over. It’s time for the ANC to either take real action to address the plight of economically marginalised South Africans or step down and make way for a DA government that cares for all South Africans.

Regards

Dr Dion George MP
DA Shadow Minister of Finance

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Top Star Drive-In: The Cinema on the Mountain of Gold

The Ferreira Dump began growing in the late 1800s, composed of the crushed rock and chemical residue left over after early, inefficient mining processes had extracted as much gold as the technology of the time allowed. By the 1960s, it was a flat-topped, man-made mesa overlooking the city. In a stroke of entrepreneurial genius, the surface was tarred and the Top Star Drive-In was opened. It quickly became a South African institution. Its appeal was not just the movies, but the unparalleled view: as the sun set, the massive white screen would flicker to life against a backdrop of the glowing skyscrapers of the Central Business District, separated from the viewer only by the elevated M2 highway.

In the decades before television arrived in South Africa (1976), the Top Star was a primary social hub. It was a democratic space in an undemocratic time; while the city below was strictly segregated, the “car” served as a private bubble that allowed a degree of social freedom not found in traditional theaters. For many Johannesburgers, the Top Star was a site of nostalgic rites of passage—first dates, family outings where children were piled into the back of station wagons with blankets and flasks of tea, and the Saturday “car market” where the parking lot transformed into a sprawling hub for buying and selling second-hand vehicles.