Stakeholders in South Africa's sugar industry are calling for an urgent meeting with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to discuss an immediate moratorium on the Health Promotion Levy, commonly known as the Sugar Tax.
This request comes ahead of Godongwana's Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, set for Wednesday.
In an open letter to the Minister, representatives from the South African Sugar Association, South African Farmers Development Association SAFDA, SA Canegrowers, and the South African Sugar Converters Association requested an opportunity to discuss the levy's impact on the industry.
SAFDA Chair Dr. Siyabonga Madlala highlighted the challenges businesses face due to the levy , noting that some have had to enter business rescue.
"Ours has always been that this tax should be scrapped. Obviously, it takes a lot of effort for government to scrap the tax but we have been crying for at least the moratorium on its increase until the introduction of biofuels-which will take the sugarcane reproduced into other income streams, like I said, biofuels being one ticket item that were targetting." - Reporting by Themba Radebe and Busi Mkhize
