- The AmaFaku royal family says price hikes can be devastating for the food basket, blaming apartheid-era underdevelopment in the Eastern Cape.
- Eskom customers pay 8.76% more since April, municipal ones 9.01% since July. Another 8.83% more is approved from April 2027.
Electricity costs about 9% more this year, and a royal family in the Eastern Cape says price hikes are reaching the food basket.
Prince Mbasa Sigcau, spokesperson for the AmaFaku, a faction of the AmaMpondo kingdom’s royal family based around Lusikisiki, said its people are still climbing out of poverty created by colonial and apartheid governments.
Prince Mbasa praised government’s pro-poor policies, such as the indigent policy. Still, “these hikes don’t simply affect drivers or the price of a unit of electricity, but the food basket,” he said.
The family hopes for stronger food production at the most basic level and broader economic inclusion.
The national energy regulator approved 8.76% more for Eskom’s direct customers from 1 April, and 9.01% for municipal customers from 1 July. The 8.76% is up from 5.36% after the regulator found a R54.7-billion error in its own calculations. Another 8.83% for Eskom direct customers is approved from 1 April 2027.
Acting King Daluxolo Sigcau has also called for unity among the AmaMpondo, saying a united community can develop its land and stop people leaving for towns and cities. He wants communities, as owners of ancestral land, to be equity partners in regional projects.
The AmaMpondo kingship has reportedly been in dispute since King Mandlonke died in 1937. The AmaMpondo aseQaukeni, centred on Lusikisiki, have had no undisputed king since King Zanozuko Sigcau died on 31 May 2022.
The AmaFaku family, descended from King Faku, named Daluxolo Sigcau acting king, and Premier Oscar Mabuyane gazetted him in April 2025.
The Marhelane family rejects this and backs Prince Yolisa Sigcau, while the late king’s mother backs his nine-year-old daughter, Princess Nizole.
