Debt Relief a Double-Edged Sword for South Africans Living on Loans
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
By Emma Rumney
Solani Rivele, a single mother of four, earns about 800 rand ($55) a week but owes 100 times that amount in loans. Millions of South Africans like her rely on credit to feed their families.
Rivele has borrowed around 80,000 rand since losing her job as a security guard due to injury in 2016. Now she owes around 3,500 rand in monthly installments, more than her monthly income.
“I can’t afford to pay because I’m a single parent, I’m the one who is providing food on the table,” the 44-year-old said in a shopping center on the outskirts of her home township of Alexandra in Johannesburg.
“I can’t sleep.”
Photo courtesy of John Hogg / World Bank.
Source: Reuters (link opens in a new window)
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