The General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA) has expressed outrage at the latest Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) report, which confirms food inflation has surged to a 16-month high of 4.7%.

It says the relentless rise in the cost of basic nutrition, driven by spikes in meat, oils, fats, and vegetables, is not merely a statistic.

GIWUSA’s Mametlwe Sebei says this is a brutal assault on the livelihoods of millions of workers and the poor.

“Claims in the report downplaying this crisis as “moderate” or solely attributing it to “temporary factors” like avian flu or foot-and-mouth disease are dangerously complacent.”

“While these disruptions contributed to short-term price spikes, they mask deeper, enduring crises of the Global and South African capitalism. Globally, there is a surge in the meat and other prices, driven by growing demand from China and US. Food and Agriculture Organisation Food Price Index, which show an increase of 7.6%.”

Read the full report here: sa-food-inflation-rises-again-but-it-is-still-not-a-significant-concern-739