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arts 2016

2015 PACSA Film & Arts Festival

Author Sonia Nunthoolall

See PROGRAMME to 2015 PACSA Film & Arts Festival here

2014 PACSA Film & Arts Festival

Author PACSA

About 900 people attended the various events hosted as part of the 2014 edition of the PACSA Film and Arts Festival which took place on the main campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg. The theme this year 'People live here...20 Years into Democracy' and was hosted in collaboration with the Alan Paton Struggle Archives.

2014 Photography Exhibition

Author PACSA

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No cash for Christmas cheer

Author Sonia Nunthoolall

It is going to be an expensive Christmas for consumers. Durban counselling agencies and economists have painted a gloomy picture of this festive season as food prices rise, and have urged the “working middle class” to spend cautiously at this time. The prices of food essentials rose more than 2 percent in the past month, according to Mervyn Abrahams, director of the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (Pacsa), who runs a monthly food price barometer.

Business News / 19 November 2016.

Inside Labour: For the poor, policy offers little relief

Author Sonia Nunthoolall

With the usual flurry of comment and analysis, another mini budget has come and gone. But for the majority of workers, whether employed or unemployed, such policy machinations are of little interest because they are too busy trying to survive in an increasingly harsh environment. Inflation for the poor – always much higher than the official cost of living index – has risen steadily and looks likely to rise still further. In the year to the end of September, for example, that staple of poor households, mealie meal, rose in price by more than 32% – a 25kg bag now costs R170.80 more than it did a year ago. According to the food monitor maintained by the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action, five “priority foods” bought by poorer households rose in price by an average of 25% over that 12-month period.

Read the full article here published by Fin24.com on 30 October 2016

Health-E News: Fighting for food as costs soar

Author Sonia Nunthoolall

You know the story. You go to the supermarket and come out with less than expected, having paid more than you had budgeted for. Food inflation has risen rapidly over the past year, fueled by the drought, a weak rand and, some say, market manipulation by retailers. A 25kg bag of maize meal – South Africa’s staple food – has increased by almost a third in the past year, now costing R225, 82. Meanwhile, onions cost 75% more and potatoes 70% more than a year ago. “The prices really get your heart beating. All of the big things have gone up,” a woman told the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA), which monitors the cost of food.

Read the full article here published by Daily Maverick on 24 Oct 2016