Thembi Motaung, a manager at a South African legal firm, faced a painful choice when she started to fall behind in meeting her hefty loan repayments on both her home and her car.

"I had been defaulting on both my mortgage and car repayments for three months, so I had to choose which one to let go," said the 36-year-old mother mother of two who lives near Pretoria.

"I've been using public transport all my life so I found it easier to do without the car."

Having had to let go of her much-cherished Audi A4, Motaung joined a growing number of South Africa's so-called "Black Diamonds" who had fallen foul of the credit crunch and faced the heartache of repossession.

While a rise in interest rates, inflation and food and fuel prices have hit all sectors of South African society, research shows that the biggest sufferers have been members of the emerging black middle class.

With rising frustration, South African unions launched a nationwide strike on Wednesday over the rise in prices that hit major sectors of the economy.

According to a new survey by the TNS Research group, 10 percent of the black middle class have had items repossessed in the last 12 months.

Twenty percent of those surveyed said they never seemed to be able to pay off their debts while half had outstanding bills with retailers.

"Black diamonds are starting to feel the pinch of the credit meltdown," said the survey.

Now comprising around a quarter of the overall population, the emergence of black consumers with significant spending power has been one of South Africa's proudest stories of the post-apartheid era.

But the levels of borrowing needed to fuel a sharp rise in home and car ownership are now threatening the phenomenon.

According the bureau of market research at the University of South Africa, in the first quarter of 2008 household debt surged to R1.04-billion ($136.6-million), 48 percent of GDP compared to 290.7-million in 1998.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has cemented its position as Africa's leading economy with an average annual growth rate of three percent — a significant rise from the meagre one percent during white-only rule.

But growth in the first quarter of 2008 measured 2.1 percent on a 12-month basis, down sharply from 5.3 percent in the last quarter of 2007.

Evidence of a downturn is widespread, with the auto sector illustrating the extent of the pain felt by many consumers who have overreached themselves and are struggling to meet repayments now that interest rates are at 12 percent.

Shannon Winterstein, managing director of the Johannesburg-based Aucor auctioneers, says her firm is being handed some 6000 repossessed vehicles every month by banks, ranging from Aston Martins to sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

"2000 homeowners are having their property repossessed every month"

"There has been a rapid increase since around February and March," said Winterstein. "We have to move fast and make space for new vehicles."

The impact is also being seen in the new car market. Latest figures from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Namsa) showed that sales of new vehicles slumped by nearly 26 percent in June to their lowest level in more than four years.

Research also shows that some 2000 homeowners are having their property repossessed every month as they can no longer afford to meet bond payments.

Motaung said she found herself floundering in debt far quicker than she ever imagined.

"I started defaulting after my child unexpectedly fell ill and had to fork out extra money for his medical costs ... Things went downhill after that, I did not seem to meet my mounting debt."

While there is plenty of evidence those at the bottom of the social ladder are hurting, South African Banking Association Chief Executive Cas Coovadia says the biggest losers are those trying to secure a foothold at the top.

"The information we receive from bank indicates that the upper class with home loans from R2-5-million were the worst affected," said Coovadia.

"These people have accumulated a string of expensive assets and are now finding it hard to maintain their lifestyles."

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