Latest news with #Joburger
Time Out
5 days ago
- Business
- Time Out
How to save money while grocery shopping in Johannesburg
Hey Joburger, have you been feeling the pinch when it comes to grocery shopping? You are not alone! According to the most recent data from Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity (PMBEJD) group, the Joburg grocery basket increased by R7,58 (0,1%) month-on-month, and increased by R122,94 (2,2%) year-on-year, to R5 656,43 in July 2025. This is higher than the national average of R5 442.72. The 2025 Household Affordability Index by PMBEJD tracks the prices of 44 basic foods from 47 supermarkets and 32 butcheries in the different cities across the country. Tips for saving on grocery shopping Be savvy with your money According to the Spend Trend Report 2024 by Discovery Bank and VISA, Joburgers are SA's biggest spenders. Be savvy with your money and choose to spend on essential food items than allocating a large sum of your money to junk food. Compare prices from different stores Johannesburg has many great grocery stores which run weekly specials. Avoid shopping at one grocery store because you might miss out on amazing deals offered elsewhere. As you go out and about, pop into grocery stores to see check out their prices and compare. The good thing is most stores share their specials online or through pamphlets, so you can compare prices before purchasing any item. Take advantage of market deals Cut the middle man and save! Farmer's markets in Johannesburg connect farmers to locals and fresh produce can be bought at a reasonable price. Check out our recommended markets - The 6 best markets in and around Johannesburg. Have a budget Having a budget and exercising discipline helps one to avoid unnecessary spending. Budgeting can also help address bad spending habits and help you keep track of your money. Sign up for royalty rewards Stores have loyalty programs where consumers can save a great deal. Other stores give extra savings when items are purchased via their apps. Support street vendors There are many street vendors such as mama Agnes that sell ready-made food and fresh produce at affordable prices that can help you save on groceries.
The Citizen
27-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Citizen
#Musings: Are headlights becoming too bright?
In amongst all the chatter about streetlights, I can't help but feel there is another increasingly dangerous lighting situation hitting our roads. When driving between Tongaat and Ballito along the R102 recently, I found myself almost blinded by an electric blue LED laser beam shot through my back window. The interior of my car was so bright that I had to pinch my arm just to check I hadn't lost focus and inadvertently landed at the pearly gates. After gathering myself and squinting to see the cause, I saw five letters that made my heart sink. GP SUV. Naturally, as a KZN native, I muttered under my breath, cursed the Joburger in his oversized car who thought he was still driving down Jan Smuts with his brights on and planned to move on with my evening. But after the driver eventually overtook me after camping on my tail for five minutes, I was astonished to see the halo of his headlights increase tenfold. He hadn't had his brights on after all. It begs the question, are headlights becoming too bright? After a bit of research, it turns out I'm not alone in feeling personally selected for spotlight torture. Two key shifts in automotive engineering and consumer trends seem to be to blame. Firstly, almost all new cars are fitted with LED headlights, which emit a white-blue hue, rather than the softer white-yellow colours of halogen headlights that were formerly the standard. According to American lighting scientist John Bullough, quoted in Vox, light intensity – typically measured in lumens or candelas – does not take into account how different colours impact the eye. That means a given LED headlight might measure at the same intensity as a halogen option, but our eyes perceive the LED as brighter because it is more likely to also be picked up by our peripheral vision. Secondly, bigger cars are becoming more popular, particularly in affluent areas. If you drive through Salt Rock or Sheffield now, you will no doubt recognise the parade of Range Rovers, Land Cruisers, Hiluxes and every other model of SUV or bakkie you can imagine. When was the last time you saw a real beat-up skadonk rolling around the suburbs? Combine the height of a large vehicle's headlights with the enhanced perceived brightness, and if you're in a hatchback or sedan, you've got your own private blue-light brigade following you. This is likely the new normal, with car manufacturers incentivised to include LED headlights for improved safety ratings. So, if you're behind the wheel of one of these monster machines, do the decent thing and give the smaller car in front a fair following distance so as not to burn their retinas. Stay in the loop with The North Coast Courier on Facebook, X, Instagram & YouTube for the latest news. Mobile users can join our WhatsApp Broadcast Service here, or if you're on desktop, scan the QR code below.
IOL News
24-07-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Lions to open Currie Cup against Sharks with confidence and unfinished business
Jaco Visagie will again lead a hungry Lions outfit in the Currie Cup, with the pain of last season's final defeat to the Sharks still fresh in memory. Photo: Backpagepix Image: Backpagepix The Lions will have to grapple with a dichotomy of sorts when they kick off their Currie Cup campaign this weekend: confident that they will do well, yet desperate that they must. It was heartbreak in the final of last year's competition when the Joburgers stumbled at the death against the Sharks — losing the title on the last play via a penalty. They face the defending champions in their opening match at Ellis Park on Saturday (kick-off 3pm), with the memory of that pain still whispering through the halls of Doornfontein. Recent shortcomings in the United Rugby Championship (URC) have not eased the pressure of expectation. And with nearly a decade having passed since their last piece of silverware, it's understandable that the team will privately acknowledge the importance of a positive outcome in the coming weeks. The Lions head into the tournament with a healthy mix of senior squad members and junior rookies. On the field, they will be led by the affable Jaco Visagie, while Mzwakhe Nkosi returns to direct proceedings from the touchline. There has been enough time, too, to consign last season's disappointment to the record books. There should, therefore, be more than enough belief and confidence to repeat their run to the final — and perhaps quash the growing exasperation of a support base hungry for success. The Lions are not deaf to those frustration. 'Being a Joburger myself, you do feel it,' Lions coach Nkosi admitted on Thursday. during a media briefing at Joburg Stadium. 'I think I was the first to feel it last October (after the final loss to the Sharks). There's a real desperation within the Lions Rugby Company — firstly, to bring some success and sustain it; and secondly, to get our hands on some silverware. 'We came really close last season, and hopefully we can build on that. The long and short of it is, only one team can win — whether that's in the URC with 18 teams or in the Currie Cup with eight. "It's a challenge, but myself included, we're all desperate for sustained success. And we have to give it our best shot.' Visagie was distraught after last year's final, but as he prepares to lead the team once again this season, he remains optimistic that another exciting Cup run lies ahead. And there is no reason to doubt that confidence. After all, the Lions racked up an impressive 437 points last season — 53 more than their nearest rivals, the Bulls. They played an enterprising brand of running rugby: fearless and ruthless. Most importantly, their squad for the tournament has a familiar look to it. 'We've got a very good team dynamic,' said Visagie. 'We almost have the same group this year, so the belief is there and the brotherhood is there.' 'We'll have the same approach as last year,' he added. 'The systems we put in place obviously worked. We lost only two matches — both to the Sharks — and those structures were solid. We just need to believe in them again.'
Daily Maverick
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Mr Lesufi, you have 72 hours to put this motion into… motion
ActionSA is crowing about proposals the Gauteng government will definitely, certainly, assuredly get to, soon. It's rather touching – the trust ActionSA has in the power of the Gauteng provincial legislature. The other day, ActionSA's website trumpeted a great victory. The minority party motioned two motions, one to do with traffic lights and the other to do with provincial oversight. And both motions were unanimously adopted! Hooray. Unanimity surely does not happen very often in our legislatures, whether provincial, national or any other kind. The piece on the ActionSA website, signed by Funzi Ngobeni, the party's provincial chairperson in Gauteng, states eloquently: 'The first motion, introduced by Emma More MPL, calls on the Gauteng provincial government to urgently address the persistent failures of traffic light infrastructure. The impact of malfunctioning traffic lights on road safety, productivity and the economy is staggering. Every 37 minutes wasted in traffic costs commuters approximately R28,000 annually.' Wow. R28,000! Divide that by 37 (why didn't they do that?) and you get R756.75 wasted every minute. Why does R756.75 per minute feel like more than R28,000 every 37 minutes? Is it simply because I, for one, though I'm one of many, am terribly bad at maths, or is it because that odd number – 37 – confuses the mind in some special way that only prime numbers can? Whatever the case, I can imagine there would have been some questions about the enormity, or failing that, the enormousness, of R28,000, especially in a province where, the Auditor-General informed us recently, the huge Johannesburg metro dispenses R2.8-billion in 'unauthorised expenditure' every year. That's an unauthorised R100,000 (if my calculations are correct) for every 37 minutes you've spent waiting at a broken traffic light. Personally, if I'd waited 37 minutes at a traffic light that was clearly nonfunctional, I'd surely have to check myself into the nearest mental health facility to see whether I really am a true Joburger. Most of us don't even wait 37 milliseconds. But let us not get distracted by personal matters. Rather, let us reconsider those numbers. R2.8-billion in unauthorised expenditure every year? Calculated differently, that's R100-million for every ANC member of the Gauteng provincial legislature. Yes, there are indeed 28 ANC members of the provincial legislature, and I'm beginning to feel a conspiracy theory of the Da Vinci Code kind coming on… What's it with all the 2s and 8s? Next there'll be a link to the 28s gang! Still, the numbers, fascinating though they are, are not my main point here. Nor is the fact that the ActionSA motions were 'unanimously adopted' – the second one, about giving MPLs more oversight, too. Are all the parties in the Gauteng legislature in a coalition? That would certainly solve some problems. Anyway, that unanimity is pleasing. The last time any South African legislative body was unanimously in support of anything was when it was declared that smoking was bad for you and should be legislated out of existence. What I find so touching is the faith ActionSA has in the Gauteng legislature of which it is so vibrant a part. Motion your motion, get it unanimously approved and… what? Are all the bodies and persons responsible for traffic lights now going to knuckle down and soon all the traffic lights in Gauteng will be moving serenely through their cycle of green, red and orange without interruption? You will note they didn't put a time frame on it. No, they didn't commit the strategic error of the ANC's Gauteng premier, His Highness Panyaza Lesufi, when he said in his State of the Province Address, I think it was, that all potholes would be fixed within 72 hours. That is, if I understand the premier correctly (yes, I know it's difficult), no more than 72 hours would elapse between the reporting of that pothole that's just opened up in your street and its successful closure – sorry, 'resolution', by pothole officials. A strategic error, I say, because I've been keeping an eye on most of the 47 potholes within a kilometre of my house and they're still there – whereas it's certainly more than 72 hours since the premier made that promise in his speech. Perhaps some time has to elapse before that promise becomes an instruction to the relevant civil servants, and then perhaps a mandatory period has to elapse before any action is taken? Perhaps Lesufi forgot to add 'And this will become law in a year's time,' or something like that? Timelines for instructions from above to be heard and acted upon by those below seem variable, but I'm sure if it doesn't happen, Lesufi can blame his coalition partners, or perhaps just the Democratic Alliance (DA), whose members are well-known subverters of any good idea the ANC comes up with. I mean, the DA has been complaining since the aforementioned State of the Province Address (or Sopa, which means 'candyfloss' in seven of South Africa's 12 official languages) that all the thousands of kitskonstabels (instant constables) hired by Lesufi to help curb crime in the province haven't helped. Not to mention the helicopters. There are helicopters? Lesufi bought helicopters for the kitskonstabels? And we thought it was only BMWs. Let's not go down that road, or at least not today. It is a road with too many potholes. And maybe that R28,000 wasted every 37 minutes pales next to some of the other numbers thrown up by the Auditor-General. Johannesburg, she said, had awarded more than R987-million to contractors 'with close ties to employees or councillors' of the city. That's what a journalist of the yellow press variety would call a pretty 'dodgy tender'. Okay, R987-million is a large amount of money and should probably be looked into – though the relevant officer of the city was already fingered in a dodgy tender case but has been cleared of Special Investigating Unit charges by a mysterious inner ANC process. Still, R987-million is a lot less than R2.8-billion. This is surely an incontrovertible fact, even to those expensive lawyers hired by the ANC to compose internal reports that the mayor can leave in his bottom drawer for a few decades. At least the Honourable Premier of Gauteng, Mr Lesufi, didn't object when the ActionSA motion calling for more oversight by MPLs was passed unanimously – so, by the 28 ANC members too. They obviously endorse the idea that, in Ngobeni's words, the 'motion responds directly to the executive's pattern of disregarding legitimate oversight interventions such as its failure to place the Emfuleni Municipality under mandatory administration despite sustained collapse'. 'Sustained collapse' may be oxymoronic, but never mind. ActionSA goes on, in a distinctly firm tone of voice: 'The unanimous support for these motions sends a clear message: accountability, transparency and basic service delivery are non-negotiable. 'We commend all political parties that voted in support [that's everyone, then], and we call on the Gauteng executive [that's Lesufi] to immediately act on the resolutions of the house.' Did you hear that, Mr Lesufi? You have 72 hours. DM Shaun de Waal is a writer and editor. This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
