Retail fresh seller Catarina Oliveira assumes the concern and asks the President to intervene, to stop the rise in basic basket products, which have almost doubled, fearing the worsening of hunger at home.
Resorting to a "partner" (pooling values with other buyers to purchase the same product), whose membership "has quadrupled", is therefore increasingly an alternative to guaranteeing a minimum livelihood.
In a fresco warehouse, in the well-known area of Arosfram, on the right street of Mercado dos Kwanzas (municipality of Cazenga), the prices of products are posted on the wall on white paper, and the clear ink reveals that they are really the most recent products.
Catarina Oliveira went there, with 25,000 kwanzas, which she said were not enough to buy even half of the products she previously purchased at lower prices.
"Today I came with 25,000 kwanzas and only made a 'partner' of [pork] tail, a box of chicken carcass for 12,500 kwanzas and I was left with only 4000 kwanzas in hand, the situation is bad, I have children, husband without a job, let's go how to do it?", she vented, in statements to Lusa.
Sitting at the entrance to the warehouse and flanked by young people, who with sharpened axes were cutting up fresh meat, Catarina Oliveira explained that she resorted to her "partner", who were joined by three more buyers with 5,000 kwanzas each to buy the "tail" box.
"Before, with 12,500 kwanzas I would buy two or three boxes, the President [of the Republic] has to help us, father, he really needs to help us, we are trusting you father, help", she appealed.
On that commercial surface, a 15-kilogram box of chicken carcass already costs 12,500 kwanzas, 10 kilograms of pork tail is worth 15,800 kwanzas, a 10-kilogram box of chicken thighs is 13,200 kwanzas, while 10 kilos of beef liver are at 12,200 kwanzas.
These prices, according to consumers, have almost doubled, compared to those practiced more than a month ago, when a box of chicken leg cost 8000 kwanzas, recalled Cláudia Almeida.
"Everything is high, previously we bought the thigh at 8,000 kwanzas, but now it is 12,000 kwanzas or 13,000 kwanzas, we used to buy a bag of rice at 7,000 kwanzas, but at the moment it is 14,000 kwanzas", said Cláudia Almeida.
The 49-year-old nurse, who went to the Arosfram area to buy products for the house, pointed to the lack of currency in the market as a factor for the increase in prices, noting that she spent twice as much today as last month.
Even as a "partner", the health professional guaranteed that "it was really twice as much".
"When I arrived at the warehouse, I was shocked by the price, I honestly couldn't believe it", she lamented.
"The situation is worrying and I think there are people who are not going to eat, if things continue to rise daily there are people who are not going to eat", shot the nurse, also criticizing the precariousness of wages.
The rise in the price of fresh produce was confirmed by one of the establishment's employees, Vitorino Kanangwa, justifying the measure by the shortage of the dollar in the Angolan market and the rise in fuel prices.
High prices are scaring away customers and consequently reducing turnover: "Yes, demand has reduced, customers have practically started to limit themselves because of prices and our turnover has decreased and these days we are having little sales", said Kanangwa to Lusa.
Several products that make up the basic food basket are also sold in most of the warehouses located in the area surrounding the Mercado dos Kwanzas, one of the oldest in the capital, where prices have also skyrocketed.
"Prices have changed a lot, since last month prices started to rise, here a bag of rice (25 kilograms) was already 8,500 kwanzas and now it is 14,000 kwanzas and it is difficult, and these days we have few customers", said Isabel Afonso.
The warehouse cashier said that the rise in prices resulted from the shortage of the dollar, with rice, oil and sugar "now having little output due to high prices".
The demand for essential goods in these warehouses is visible by the number of people who enter and leave the space, many empty-handed and even "indignant" with the rise in prices, as Joana Nâmbua Lopes vented.
"We are suffering a lot, how is rice going to rise to 15,000 kwanzas? They want to kill us slowly, if they want to kill us they should kill us all now, the situation is bad, we are suffering a lot", she complained.
The "zungueira" Odete Daniel pointed out that sales were conditioned due to the process of reordering trade in the capital, and added that she "took a scare" when she saw the current price of the pasta box set at 5,400 kwanzas against the previous 3,100.
"It's complicated, they don't want us in the 'zunga' anymore, the food is that expensive and we're like? We're going to die of hunger", shot the street vendor.
Catarina Oliveira, like the other sellers and buyers, also pointed to the shortage of the dollar as one of the reasons for the rise in prices of consumer goods in the capital.
