VAT-free chicken was needed now “more than ever before”, said FairPlay founder Francois Baird.
He told TV station ENCA that the government had “kicked the can down the road” in 2018, when it had failed to make a decision on exempting chicken from VAT. Since then, child stunting, caused by malnutrition, had increased from 27% to 28.8%.
“Now the government must make a decision. Chicken is not a luxury – it is a must-have for children and pregnant mothers.”
There is widespread hunger and malnutrition in South Africa, Baird said. The simplest and most effective immediate action the government could take to address this would be to give poor people increased access to chicken by exempting it from VAT.
“The urgency cannot be over-emphasised”.
There would be other benefits, including a jobs benefit if the poultry industry expanded to meet increased demand.
“Poultry production happens in rural areas where unemployment, hunger and malnutrition are most intense,” Baird said.
