r/askSouthAfrica

How would you save and budget? expenses etc What would you do with it?🤔

I’ve been thinking about how every country has its own “you had to be there” moments, things that don’t make sense until you experience them firsthand.
For South Africa, what’s that one thing outsiders just don’t get?
Could be something funny, frustrating, or deeply cultural, like how we handle load‑shedding, our slang, or even how we queue at the shops.

I’d love to hear your takes. What’s your “you wouldn’t understand unless you’re South African” moment?

Random email i received form the 'DEPARTMENT OF SPORT, ARTS AND CULTURE'

Woke up to this mail in my business mail-box (not touching that attachment off-course) but it does seem legit, which raises the question of how they got my email and do they just randomly spam people with requests for tender?

To make it weirder after previewing the attachment i see its a 'Bid Document' for Sedibeng?

So most likely phishing- if not it raises even more questions.

I feel like most South Africans are constantly on the move and I'm barely dragging myself between each task. Occasional caffeine makes me feel human but I need to cut it out and find something healthier.

So please spill the beans on what y'all are taking/eating/drinking for all this energy and where you buy it from? The more affordable the better because my bank acc is also tired 🙏😭

Like I understand the job market is bad, but come on. I’m applying everywhere for remote roles, and by everywhere, I mean EVRYWHERE. USA, Canada, UK, Germany, South Africa, etc. for a few months now and nothing. I’ve got like 4 professional certifications across Microsoft Azure, AWS and Oracle, I’ve been a top 10 finalist across Southern Africa in a hackathon with over 300 developers. I’ve built projects that align heavily with my experience in cloud engineering. I studied IT in uni, I was a student leader, I even tailor my cv for each application factoring in ATS. I do all of these things recruiters always tell us would, ‘give you that extra edge’ and yet still… crickets.

What does it take to get your foot in the door man? I honestly just need someone to take a chance on this young man. Do you understand what it feels like to put in so much work, knowing you have the capabilities to completely obliterate expectations, but barely make it past the initial application stage?

Please if anyone has any advie, OR BETTER YET, extend an olive branch by connecting me to the right people, I would be wholeheartedly grateful.

Hi I'm 19M and I'll be graduating soon with a finance degree my concern is whether I should do another degree i was thinking industrial engineering or I should dive into corporate my biggest concern is I didn't do that well in my degree but I'm trying to offset that by learning python,SQL, excel and powerbi . I'M seriously just so confused about what will be the next step of my life that its affecting my mental in a huge way. If anyway can offer sound advice I'd really appreciate it

I'm a coloured man from Cape Town working in Pretoria. I have been addressing colleagues by their first name and mean no disrespect by this. However, I note that a lot of my colleagues use "sis" to address older women and "bra" to address older men, whole others address colleagues by their title e.g. CEO/CFO etc. How do you manage what is deemed disrespect at a workplace when we all come from different backgrounds? For me the language used and tone is more important when addressing someone. Your name is your name, why get offended if I use it? Help me make sense of this.

I’ve noticed something strange: people brag about working 12‑hour days, skipping sleep, and “hustling nonstop,” but if you say you took a day off to recharge, you’re suddenly lazy.
It’s wild how rest became a guilty pleasure instead of a basic need.
The truth is, burnout doesn’t make you productive, it makes you replaceable.
Maybe the real flex is balance, not exhaustion.

What do you think, is grind culture just modern‑day self‑neglect dressed up as ambition?

Serious question, I use Uber 15 to 20 times per week to pick me up at my place. I always put the pickup point outside the main gate so Uber won't need to waste time entering the complex. Yet every single time without fail, the driver is parked in the road obstructing traffic instead of pulling into the pickup area just 5 meters in front of them. It's clearly marked too. I just don't get it.

I use Uber for everything, and this is my only actual complaint. Why dudes, why???

I (31f) unfortunately was blinded by my first love and I followed him every time he got a new job. We were never married. Because he was 'waiting for the right moment.' Then the 10 year mark hit. And I got pregnant. It was accidental. And I struggled a lot with keeping the baby or not. We decided to keep it because he wanted to be a father.

Come to find out he's been telling everyone that'll listen he never wanted to be a dad. He didn't really want the baby. We broke up for numerous of reasons, but now I'm living with my parents, unable to find stable employment (or any employment at that. We live in a very small town). And I'm suffering with ppd.

I don't know what to do anymore. My mother is taking over being a mom for my child because I apparently don't know how. He's not paying anything for the child but he's threatening daily to take him away from me. So is my mother if I decide to move out.

I'm tired guys. Do you guys know of any resources that can help me?

I have a degree in criminology and psychology but I'm struggling to get into the masters program.

Edit to add: I know this is my own fault and doing. I woke up way too late

I'm at my wits end, I'm looking for anything even remotely affordable. I work 45-49 hours a week on minimum wage which is the legal maximum I'm allowed to work and that amounts to R5900 per month. Why in the ever loving f*** is the baseline bachelor's shoebox starting at R3500 and if you want something remotely safely built in a semi decent area that skyrockets to R6000+? Whats the point of all this? Theres no reason to keep on.

I've seen so many posts about getting terrible service from Evetech. Most of them have been from 5 or more years ago. Just wondering if there service has improved? Or is Woot still much better?

My Girlfriend and I are going for the first time and we are going in blind tell me anything and everything!!!

Yesterday, my dad and I did a DIY repair for our 2002 9N Polo (replacing a worn component of the gearbox). It was driving fine just after the repair, but a few hours later, the car wouldn't start; there's no spark, and no petrol seems to be getting to the engine. We examined the engine itself, and nothing appears to physically be out of place, so it's most likely an electrical issue.

We checked all of the relevant fuses, but it's still not working.

We have been looking all over for websites/PDFs that have a service repair manual for this model, but we can't find anything (at least anything that doesn't cost R800+)

Do you guys know where someone could find a service manual for this model specifically , or do you know how to remotely contact someone who could give advice on this issue? I know there is a website called AllDataDIY, but that's only in America.

I would also greatly appreciate any piece of advice/info that you guys could give on this situation

Thank you in advance

What do i do😞🙏

I just turned 15 earlier this year and id like to use the time i have to invest into my future while being able to have leasure and relaxation/enjoyment time and also get a proper education.

Surprisingly the legal working age for minors is 15 and even more not many people know, the laws are a whole process but moving from that, what can i do, id like to build a sustainable income and use that to jumpstart my future career and endeavors, but the question now is what can/do i do¿ I want to become a baker but im open to do almost anything as for now.

If any if you have advise please dont just say but also tell me where and how to get started, my skill set is pretty large and (as cliché as it sounds) im easily adaptable. Labour laws for minors are pretty flexible too, as of posting its the holidays so a good amount of hours are workable, during school days are also not too bad.

So if anyone can give me advice on what i can/should do i would really appriciate it😞🙏

I received this email from my management about a scheduled team meeting.

The issue is that the meeting is scheduled to end one hour after my shift finishes, and the company doesn't pay overtime.

The main thing they've asked everyone to prepare is three ways we think the business can become more profitable or efficient, along with any questions, concerns, or feedback.

Here's the email:

>

Am I being unreasonable for expecting to either be paid for the extra hour or be allowed to leave when my shift ends? If a meeting extends beyond scheduled working hours, should that time be paid or am I able to leave when my shift ends?

I'm also curious what others think about being asked to come up with ideas to improve the company's profitability during unpaid time. Has anyone dealt with something similar?

Okay so I'll start with posting my "stats" I am in my third year of my ICT: Applications Development Diploma, I finish next year but would like to keep going up until my Advanced Diploma. I know this counts against me as there are grads from higher prestige schools and programs.

My portfolio is nothing impressive:

it has been mostly hobby programming in java, Pacman, Hangman, some other guessing games, a text editor / lightweight IDE - just a java swing wrapper over some cli commands.

Over the last year I've built up a small edtech start up that me and my course mates use (~23 active users a month) so that's one of my more stellar achievements, we'll open it up to other years and courses, but I'm getting off track.

They also mention having good grades as an accomplishment, thus far I have achieved 11 (out of a possible 17) distinctions and an average of 78% in my two years of uni.

I want to take the next year and a half of uni to focus on building a great portfolio (I really like cloud, I'll get a few more certifications from AWS - I have the ccp) and trying to achieve an 85% avg for the remaining years of uni. I would also like to ramp up my networking efforts.

What are my chances if I go all in for 2028

When I ask about inclusivity I mean accepting non CS bachelors candidates

Hey guys!

I got my auto assessment from SARS today and there is a IRP 5 attached to it from a company that I have never heard of as well as my actual one submitted from my actual work.

I phoned the company on the ITP 5 and the HR lady at this company told me that I am the 4th person to phone today about the same thing and there is obviously some fraud going on.

What do I do? How do I fix this? Is this a bigger problem than me just not being able to claim my refund.

Any advice would be very appreciated!

Has anyone used The Marriage Guys to draw up their marriage contract? Their reviews are all very positive, almost eerily so. Our experience with them so far has not been what we expected. We thought this was a team of qualified lawyers, but were taken through the process by a law student who couldn’t answer some of our questions and concerns.

Curious if anyone else has worked with them before and would you recommend them?