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Parliaments in Europe go above and beyond to protect consumers. Oscar van Heerden asks why our own national legislature isn't doing a similar thing for South Africans.
You know, at the heart of any democracy is protecting the little guy.
With an ever-increasing and high interest rate, a weak rand and low growth rate, it is the ordinary person on the street that is feeling the pinch more than anyone else. So much for combatting unemployment, poverty and inequality. If anything, these triple challenges in South Africa remain appalling, regardless of the massive social security blanket for the most vulnerable in our society.
I'm the first to equally acknowledge the devastating impact of the Covid pandemic and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, plus the general downturn of the global economy. All factors contribute to the current situation South Africa finds itself in, along with other countries.
Year in and year out I observe how Parliaments in Europe do everything in their ambit and powers to protect consumers. Be it through the application of their competition rules or perhaps the anti-competitive laws, the regular massive fines applied on various businesses for wrongdoing and so on, all in an attempt to protect their respective consumers from outright exploitation and abuse. And yet it seems our national legislature is less concerned with matters affecting the poor in this country.
Parliament's mandate
It is, after all, part of Parliament's mandate to protect us, the citizens, from fear, crime, violation of our human rights and from any and all persons wanting to abuse us. In short, the welfare of all citizens, but especially the poorest of the poor, must be uppermost in the minds of Parliament, and it is not as far as I'm concerned.
I must indicate that my family is of the opinion, with regards to some of these issues, that I'm becoming cantankerous in my old days. Well, perhaps, but allow me to seethe just for the moment.
When our government came up with the noble idea to restrict the use of plastic in the form of plastic bags, the necessary process was put in place to pass the laws in this regard. The idea was to introduce a penalty to those businesses that insist on using it, and to limit the impact of plastic bags on our environment.
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Instead of outright banning plastic bags, which would inevitably lead to job losses for those workers that manufacture plastic bags, we instead opted for a penalty. But, soon afterwards, this penalty was simply transferred to us, the customers. So, logically, this means that we are being penalised for choosing to make use of plastic bags.
The retail sector does not give us a choice of an alternative, just that you pay for bags or you take your supplies in the trolley to your car. Woolworths does give you such an option, but not Pick and Pay, Spar or Checkers Shoprite. I mean it is really bordering on ridiculous that this stunt by retailers has become the accepted norm and our legislature sees nothing wrong with this.
It is a similar scenario at clothing shops. You have to purchase a bag from the store or else walk through the mall with your new clothes in your hands. Notwithstanding that you also provide free advertising for the said shop because these bags are usually branded.
I took my daughter to a well-known clothing store, and purchased goods to the value of more than R2 000. Despite having just bought five items of clothing, I heard that proverbial question, "Would you like to purchase a bag, Sir".
I just about want to have a cadenza. You mean I must spend extra money when I have already spent quite a bit, otherwise no bag. And, again, our Parliament sees nothing wrong with this.
My next bug bear is bank charges. It is ridiculous that, in this day and age, we are still expected to pay exorbitant bank charges. The reason from our banking bosses, who by the way earn ridiculous salaries, is because they provide world-class banking to us as customers. The UK and other parts of Europe also provide world class banking, yet their customers aren't forking out for bank charges. Their Parliaments made sure that this does not happen to their citizens.
How is it that our banks use our money (savings) to play the markets and make more money for themselves, not for you, and yet every time you make use of the banking services, you must pay for everything? Listen to this ridiculous fact: every time you deposit money into your bank account, you pay. If you don't use the account regularly, you pay. This is actually daylight robbery, if you ask me.
Extortion
If you leave money in your account and don't do anything with it, you will find that, after some time, you have no more money in your account because all the while you pay bank charges for them administering your account. This is insane that we allow this kind of extortion from our banks.
Our telecommunication companies, such as MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and all the smaller players out there, all squeeze us dry because of data costs. Other countries, such as Brazil, Europe and the US, have virtually no data costs.
Half the profits declared by these big telecommunication companies in SA comes from data costs. This is killing the average guy out there.
Data costs must be scrapped for the ordinary person and the cost must be carried by the companies themselves, and this includes educational institutions like schools, universities and TVET colleges. It is disgusting that these institutions are expected to pay for data. Data is a human right. Do you hear me national legislature?!
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Due to load shedding, many are turning to solar, especially the middle class. Inverters and generators are the order of the day, but there is no reduced cost on prepaid electricity from Eskom. Why is that? I mean, logic suggests that if I buy R500 of prepaid electricity and it usually last me two weeks, then if in a particular month we have Stage 6 load shedding, my R500 should technically go further because there was no electricity usage on my part for those hours of load shedding - and yet, after two weeks, I have to reload prepaid electricity. Can someone explain this to me like I'm a two-year-old.
Again, nothing wrong with citizens getting screwed, according to our Parliament because they do nothing to protect us from such extortions. Eskom messed up, but we, the customers, must pay, while there are plenty of people not paying for their services, including electricity provision, but nothing happens to them. No payment for electricity and yet they are not cut off either. So, unfair.
Just place the onus on the customers. That's the word in the private sector, while we report posting unimaginable profits and shareholder payouts. Why is our legislature not protecting us?
Next is medical aid payments at various establishments. Why, after we have paid for our respective medical aids via debit orders, must we pay cash at most establishments and then we must claim back from the medical aid. Why has this been allowed to become the norm?
Even if it was a decision made by the regulatory bodies of the medical aids, this should have been fought against in the interest of the customers. In effect, we are expected to make double payments for medical aid, and if you want your money back, you better do the schlep work of administering your claim back pay. Yes, these establishments provide a service which we pay for, but why place on us an added responsibility of paying and claiming back. This is so unfair and must change.
What is the mandate of our national legislature with regards to these matters? With the cost of living being so very high, these are matters that can really make a huge difference in the pockets of citizens.
So, when looking at a comprehensive social security model, besides the need for an increase in the existing social grants, looking at the legislative frameworks for all of these matters mentioned will go some way to assist citizens and effectively deal with poverty and inequality.
These are the facts, and they are irrefutable. Let's see if our national legislature will start doing its work. Phew, rant over.
- Dr Oscar van Heerden is a senior research fellow for African Diplomacy and Leadership at the University of Johannesburg.
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