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The food prices are quite horrendous at the moment and are going to get worse. This will of course hit the poorest of the poor the hardest. It also makes nonsense of the claim that the inflation rate is below 10%! Sure if you belong to the elite group this is the case perhaps. But to a poor and not so rich person, food represents the only thing they can and must afford so their inflation rate is in the region of 10-20% which is unacceptably high.

It also means that any pay hike below 10% per annum will leabe the worker with less available money than the previous year.

Put it this way:- A monthly salary of R10 000 would by the end of the year be worth only R9000 at the till at the most. The employer hands out a 6% increase which is slightly more than the official inflation rate. This is R600 per month so now the R10 000 is worth R9600 or a drop of 4%. Then at the end of the next year if the food inflation continues the R9600 become R8640 and the official rate of 5% gives another 6% increase or R518 which means that the R10 000 salary is now only worth R9158 at the end of 2007 or a loss of R842 per month or a drop in 8,4% in real terms.

No wonder the poor keep getting poorer and their numbers keep increasing whilst the elite grant themselves salaries commensurate with 25-35%

increases, thus ensuring that the rich get richer. I would like to remind the government that man’s strongest drive is hunger and a lack of attention to the price of basic food has caused many a government to fall from power. Bear in mind that only 10-20% of your voter base are rich.

Martin