There will again not be much Christmas cheer for South Africans this year as about 94% of survey participants indicate they’ll be under severe financial pressure during the peak festive season. Statistics from a recent Debt Rescue survey paint a grim picture of households across the country. They are either hanging on by a thin thread or no longer able to hang on at all as we head into the peak festive season, traditionally the season of spending and splurging.
The survey was conducted to determine the real state of consumer finances at this time of year, focusing on the festive season’s expenses in the face of the nation’s economic hardships. Neil Roets, CEO of Debt Rescue, says more than two-thirds of survey respondents (71%) confessed that they are just about coping (39%) or are under severe financial pressure (32%) as they wind down towards the end of the year. He has frequently raised the red flag about the plight of ordinary South Africans over the past year.
“These are two of the most concerning insights from our survey, as they indicate a nation in deep financial trouble. When households cannot scrape together even a few extra rands to celebrate what is perhaps the most important few weeks of the year for most of us, there is reason for grave concern,” Roets warns. He says possibly the most distressing survey outcome of all is that two-thirds of people who participated in the Debt Rescue survey say they had to drastically change their festive season plans due to the impact of the high cost of living.
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“Almost two-thirds of those polled (65%) say that they have either cancelled or completely changed their festive plans, due to their financial circumstances. It is incredibly sad that financial hardship is reshaping our festive traditions, which are one of the mainstays of all our cultures across communities,” Roets says. He points out that the relentlessly increasing costs of essentials like electricity, water and transport, pushed a significant portion of the population into financial distress and below the poverty line, with households now having to make tough decisions about which is the highest priority among essentials.
According to the threshold set by Statistics SA, 23 million people in South Africa (more than a third of the nation), are living below the lower-bound poverty threshold of R1 300 per month. This is the line in the sand that forces difficult trade-offs between food and other necessities. Roets says this is supported by thelatest findings of the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity group’s Household Affordability Index reportfor November 2025, that shows that average South African workers spend more than 60% of their monthly earnings on transport and electricity alone, leaving little to cover other necessary expenses like rent, food and water, not to mention things like airtime, data and clothing.
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