SHOPRITE IS NOW PUSHING DEBT FOR GROCERIES, turning your local supermarket into a predatory lending trap disguised as “financial innovation.” In a SHOCKING new partnership with PayJustNow, the retail GOLIATH is now enticing vulnerable South Africans to BUY NOW, PAY LATER for essential food and household items—a move critics are calling a DANGEROUS exploitation of a cost-of-living crisis.
This isn’t about luxury electronics; this is about BREAD, SCHOOL UNIFORMS, and basic necessities. Shoprite claims this “empowers” customers, but the REALITY is a sinister scheme to lock the financially desperate into a cycle of digital debt. “It allows customers to plan…” says a Shoprite executive, while FAILING to warn that proprietary algorithms now control your purchasing power, creating a surveillance-based credit score for buying milk.
The industry’s LAVISH self-praise contrasts with warnings from consumer advocates who see a looming DEBT DISASTER. Microfinance South Africa has sounded the alarm for STRONGER REGULATION, fearing these “interest-free” instalments are a gateway to financial ruin for millions already on the edge. Yet, Shoprite and its partners steamroll ahead, PROFITEERING from desperation.
Even the company’s own admission—”Fewer than one in five South Africans have a credit card”—exposes the TARGET: the unbanked and the underserved, lured by the illusion of easy money at the till. This is not empowerment; it is a CORPORATE BET that the poor will keep spending money they don’t have, enriching lenders while families drown.
The chilling truth is that your ability to feed your family is now just another data point in a fintech algorithm, and the largest retailer in Africa is leading the charge. The grocery cart is the new loan shark, and EVERYONE is on the menu.
Author: Kayitsi.com
