South African workers earning the national minimum wage are being forced to drastically underspend on food, leaving families unable to afford a basic nutritious diet.
This is according to the December 2025 Household Affordability Index released by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group (PMBEJD).
The index found the average cost of a basic nutritional food basket for a family of four stood at R3,678.87 in December, while transport and electricity costs consumed more than 60% of a worker’s monthly wage.
“On our calculations, using Pietermaritzburg-based figures for electricity and transport, and the average figure for a minimum nutritional basket of food for a family of four, electricity and transport take up 60.4% of a worker’s wage (R2,781.85/R4,606.40),” the index said.
After transport and electricity costs are paid or set aside, workers are left with R1,824.55 to cover food and all other expenses.
PMBEJD said this leaves families underspending on food by at least 50.4%, making it impossible to afford enough nutritious food.
“In this scenario, there is no possibility of a worker being able to afford enough nutritious food for her family.”
Even if the entire remaining amount were spent solely on food, it would provide R456.14 per person per month in a four-person household.
“This is below the 2023 rebased food poverty line of R777 per person per month. Note that the food poverty line is a monetary-based threshold, which a person cannot consume enough food to meet the minimum daily energy requirement.”
The index recorded mixed month-on-month price movements in December. Foods that increased in price by 5% or more included carrots (9%), bananas (6%) and oranges (9%), while fish (3%), tomatoes (3%) and spinach (2%) rose by more than 2%.
At the same time, several staple foods saw notable price declines. Items that dropped by 5% or more included rice (-5%), potatoes (-8%), onions (-9%) and butternut (-28%).
Other decreases of 2% or more were recorded for maize meal, samp, cooking oil, salt, frozen chicken portions, beef liver, green peppers, Cremora, tinned pilchards, canned beans, margarine and apricot jam.
The December Household Affordability Index, which tracks prices of 44 basic food items in 47 supermarkets and 32 butcheries nationwide, showed the average cost of the household food basket at R5,333.45.
This represented a month-on-month decrease of R80.08 (-1.5%) from November and a year-on-year decrease of R49.93 (-0.9%) compared with December 2024.
Of the 44 foods tracked, 18 increased in price while 26 decreased.
Regional basket prices showed varied trends, with Johannesburg’s basket falling to R5,538.42 and Cape Town recording the largest monthly decline to R5,185.27, while Durban’s basket was largely unchanged at R5,306.47.
Springbok remained the most expensive at R5,649.20 despite declines, while Pietermaritzburg recorded a basket cost of R5,029.73.
The index highlighted that the national minimum wage stands at R28.79 per hour or R4,836.72 for a standard 21-day working month.
In December with 20 working days, the maximum wage for a general worker was R4,606.40.
“Workers work to support their families,” the index said.
“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 index also highlighted that when distributed across a four-person household, this equates to R1,151.60 per person per month, which is below the 2023 rebased lower-bound poverty line of R1,300 and far below the upper-bound poverty line of R2,635.
The index also raised concern about food affordability for children, as in December, the average monthly cost to feed a child a basic nutritious diet was R937.61 despite a slight month-on-month and year-on-year decrease.
“The child support grant of R560 per month remains 28% below the food poverty line and 40% below the cost of a basic nutritious diet for a child.”
Meanwhile, Stats SA’s latest data shows headline inflation at 3.5% in November, while food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation stood higher at 4.4%, continuing to place pressure on low-income households
