South Africa’s rising unemployment rate made removing value added tax (VAT) from chicken even more urgent, according to FairPlay founder Francois Baird.
In a letter to Business Day, Baird said the announcement that the official unemployment rate had risen to 33.5% meant increasing poverty, misery, hunger and starvation for millions of South Africans.
“This dire situation should focus government on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise last month to increase the number of essential foods that are exempt from the 15% VAT. Top of that list should be chicken, the country’s most popular and affordable source of meat protein and an essential part of the diet of poor families.
“VAT-free chicken is a pro-poor proposal. It would target the chicken portions most consumed by low-income households, and bring immediate relief to stressed family budgets,” Baird said.
“It would also help lower another horrific SA statistic: almost 30% of the country’s children under the age of five are stunted. Stunting is caused by malnutrition, and it affects these children physically and mentally for the rest of their lives.”
In 2017 the SA Child Gauge study put the stunting rate at 27%. This month the Human Sciences Research Council raised that to 28.8%. The council also said 63.5% of SA households suffer some degree of food insecurity.
“There is no meat in the VAT-free basket, yet meat protein is a dietary essential.
“Chicken comprises 66% of the meat consumed in SA and is mostly produced in rural areas, where jobs are scarce and malnutrition and stunting levels are high.
“VAT relief for SA chicken is desperately needed to help our poor and jobless families,” Baird concluded.
