Black Friday deals expose South Africa’s R370 grant crisis

AS the year’s biggest shopping event arrives, we examine South Africa’s R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant — and whether it can secure a decent grocery basket on Black Friday at mainstream retailers.

The SRD is a monthly R370 payment for unemployed individuals with no other income or social support, introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic and administered by the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa).

Retailers such as Shoprite and Makro offer sub-R370 Black Friday baskets containing staples and proteins, but this value demands critical contextualisation against the country’s economic challenges and social grant realities.

While seemingly reasonable, R370 starkly illustrates how such discounted baskets, though momentarily helpful, fall drastically short of what families need monthly for basic food security. With staple food prices soaring and inflation eroding incomes, the grant exposes the daily survival struggle of beneficiaries and low-income households amid persistent hardship and rising living costs.

Shoprite’s sub-R370 basket includes essentials such as chicken, canned goods, maize meal, and cooking oil — a basic but balanced nutritional mix. Makro also offers an affordable basket at around R375, prioritising bulk staples for cost efficiency. Pick n Pay, while also competitively priced at sub-R370, trades higher costs for convenience and greater item diversity.

In essence, Makro seems to have the best price-point basket, Shoprite balances staples and proteins, and Pick n Pay favours convenience and variety.

However, the R370 social grant for vulnerable citizens, meant to supplement basic living costs, is nowhere near enough to afford the inflation-adjusted costs of a basic household food basket in 2025, which exceeds R5 400, with many staples nearly double their 2015 prices.

A basket that cost R500 in 2015 now requires over R690 for identical quantities, underscoring severe erosion of purchasing power.

Consequently, the R370 grant covers only a fraction of a household’s core nutritional needs. Black Friday baskets, though budget-friendly, highlight the systemic insufficiency of social grants against soaring living expenses.

For many, even the best-priced basket meets only a small portion of a family’s short-term food needs. Temporary discounts do not resolve the structural affordability crisis — and the gap between government support and actual costs demands deeper economic and social intervention.

A new report from the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity (PMBEJD) group, released this week, reveals that even South Africans earning the national minimum wage cannot afford sufficient nutritious food for their families, let alone cover other essentials like transport and electricity.

According to the *November 2025 Household Affordability Index*: “Workers work to support their families. The wage workers earn is not just to sustain themselves alone, it is used to support the entire family.” For Black South African workers, “one wage typically must support 3.9 people.”

The National Minimum Wage in November 2025 stood at R28.79 per hour, R4 606.40 for a 20-day month, according to the report. Divided across a family of four, that amounts to just R1 151.60 per person, well below the upper-bound poverty line of R1 634.

More alarmingly, after spending 60.4% of their wage on electricity and transport, only R1 824.55 remains for everything else — including food. Yet feeding a family of four a basic, nutritious diet cost R3 699.52 in November 2025.

“This means workers’ families may underspend on food by a minimum of 50.7%,” the report states. “In this scenario, there is no possibility of a worker being able to afford enough nutritious food for his or her family.”

If every remaining cent went to food, each family member would receive just R456.14 per month, less than half the official food poverty line of R796. Nationally, the average Household Food Basket cost R5 413.53 in November 2025: a slight R27.07 (0.5%) drop from October, but still R52.49 (1%) higher than in November 2024.

Some relief came from sharp declines in onion (-8%), cabbage (-11%), and carrot (-13%) prices, according to the report. But other essentials surged: oranges (+22%), bananas (+12%), and potatoes (+9%). Of the 44 foods tracked, 17 increased in price, and 27 decreased.

Food grew more expensive in vulnerable areas: in Mthatha, the basket rose by R188.79 (3.5%) to R5 638.88; Springbok saw a 2.2% increase. Prices fell in major metros:

• Johannesburg: down R67.24 (to R5 604.49)
• Durban: down R36.21 (to R5 305.74)
• Cape Town: down R23.11 (to R5 349.17)

Yet year-on-year costs remain higher than last November in all locations.

For children, the crisis is especially acute. The average monthly cost to feed a child a nutritious diet was R943.05 in November 2025 — but the Child Support Grant provides only R560. This leaves the grant 30% below the food poverty line and a staggering 41% below actual nutritional needs.

As the PMBEJD report emphasises: “The Child Support Grant of R560 is 30% below the Food Poverty Line of R796, and 41% below the average monthly cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet.”

While national headline inflation sits at 3.6% and food inflation at 3.9%, the lived reality for millions, especially minimum-wage earners, is one of impossible trade-offs. The data is unequivocal: earning the minimum wage does not lift families above the poverty line.

As the report states: “There is no possibility of a worker being able to afford enough nutritious food for her family.”

* Sizwe Dlamini is editor of the Sunday Independent. The views expressed do not reflect those of IOL or Independent Media.

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