By Buziwe Nocuze
- Nomfezeko Ngozwana makes pizza at home for her children because she can no longer afford to take them out for lunch.
- The Lusikisiki farm supervisor stopped buying meat and eggs and now grows her own chickens to help save her money.
Nomfezeko Ngozwana is a supervisor at a farm in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape. She has a diploma in business management and a teaching certificate but could not find work at the big companies.
She said she is grateful to her boss for the job because her family does not go to bed hungry.
Ngozwana said she has stopped taking her children out for lunch or ice cream because the price of everything is going up. She now makes pizza at home using what she has so her children can still feel special. She has also stopped buying red meat, polony, cheese and eggs because the prices are too high.
To save money, she decided to grow her own chickens. “They give us eggs, and when they are old enough, we slaughter them,” she said. This choice means her family can eat meat even when she has no money.
Ngozwana has many costs to pay each month from her salary. She gives R1,500 to her daughter for rent and groceries and R2,500 to her mother. She also pays R1,500 for food where she lives with her cousins. Other costs include R960 for transport and R490 for funeral policies.
She said her money is finished after paying these bills and she has to wait for the next month. She tries to buy only basics that last a month because she does not want to borrow money she cannot pay back. Ngozwana said the most important thing for her now is to focus on basics and forget about other things.
Pictured above: Nomfezeko Ngozwana.
Image source: Nomfezeko Ngozwana
