‘Everything is going up as well’: Pensioners react as fuel prices rise

Comments on The South African’s Facebook page capture growing frustration among SASSA beneficiaries after petrol and diesel prices rose today. Facebook user Anthonie Joubert had flagged the looming increase the night before it took effect, warning that the knock-on effects would be felt far beyond the pump.

“And now petrol and diesel fuel are going up tomorrow night, then what’s going to happen? Food, water, lights, everything is going up as well,” he wrote, a warning that proved timely once the hike landed.

Not just one group affected, commenters stress

Responding to suggestions that the fuel hike would hit only certain grant categories or specific individuals, Catherine Cathy Chantler was quick to broaden the scope of the concern. “Yes, it’s draining all of the millions of SASSA pensioners, not only certain people,” she wrote, pushing back against any narrative that isolates the impact to a single demographic.

Dan De Beer echoed the point, insisting the pressure affects “not only him, every one of them”, a reminder that today’s increase hits the entire grant-recipient base, not isolated cases.

Rising costs erode fixed incomes further

For pensioners and other SASSA beneficiaries living on fixed monthly grants, today’s fuel price increase is particularly damaging because it filters into nearly every other cost of living, transport, food delivery, electricity generation, and municipal water pumping, all of which rely on fuel-linked inputs.

Commenters’ warnings echo a pattern seen repeatedly on the platform: each fuel price announcement is followed by fears of a fresh round of food and utility price increases that grant payments simply aren’t designed to absorb. With grant values adjusted only once a year, beneficiaries say the gap between fixed incomes and rising costs widens whenever fuel prices change, leaving pensioners feeling increasingly squeezed regardless of which specific grant they receive.

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