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In his Budget speech tomorrow, the SA Canegrowers Association (SACG) urges Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to urgently halt the sugar tax, which is crippling the sugar industry and causing thousands of job losses.

Since it was implemented in April 2018, the sugar tax, also known as the ‘health promotion levy’, has cost the sugar industry around R1.5 billion, with the canegrowing sector alone losing approximately 9 000 jobs in the first year. This number is climbing, and thousands more have been lost in the sugar-milling and beverage industries. The impact of the sugar tax on poor, rural communities is absolutely devastating.

We therefore reject the reckless and heartless call of lobby groups such as HEALA to increase the sugar tax further and expand it to other products. The people that run these organisations clearly do not understand the hardships that so many rural people face.

We also challenge HEALA to produce evidence that the sugar tax has had a positive impact on obesity levels in the country. The truth is that there is no data available at this time to tell us whether the tax has achieved its objective of improving health.

However, what is crystal clear is the devastating impact this tax has had on the livelihoods of small-scale growers, emergent farmers and thousands of workers living in rural communities.

If the people at HEALA were in touch with the realities of rural South Africa, they would know that – without jobs – people face an uphill battle to provide their families the health and nutrition they need. It is therefore in everybody’s interest that rural jobs are protected.

Government has acknowledged that thousands of jobs in the sugar industry are at risk, and is working with the us on a Master Plan to ensure a more diversified and sustainable sugar industry.

The fact is that the sugar industry was already struggling as a result of weak protection against cheap imports, drought and plunging sugar prices. The sugar tax could very well be the final nail in the coffin for an industry that supports one million livelihoods.

If Minister Mboweni is serious about ensuring inclusive economic growth and job creation, he will use his budget speech to halt the sugar tax until a full socio-economic assessment of its impact has been undertaken.

SA Canegrowers remains committed to working with national government to ensure the sugar industry remains a long-term contributor to the South African economy and a job creator in rural areas.

Issued by SA Canegrowers Association