The rural municipality with the lowest prices for groceries in South Africa

• Mtubatuba remains the cheapest municipality among South Africa's major metros and towns for groceries.
• The PMBEJD report found that while 24 of the 44 tracked food items became cheaper or showed no year-on-year increases, the other 20 experienced price hikes, with eight items seeing double-digit inflation.
• Mtubatuba had the lowest basket cost at R5,232.34 in September 2026, which is R255.72 below the national average.