MEDIA STATEMENT BY HIGGINS MDLULI, CHAIRMAN OF SA CANEGROWERS
March 12, 2025 SA Canegrowers welcomes no increase in sugar tax
SA Canegrowers welcomes the decision by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to not increase the Health Promotion Levy (or sugar tax) in the 2025 Budget.
Introduced in 2018, the sugar tax cost 16,000 jobs and R2 billion in revenue in the first year of implementation alone, according to independent research by Nedlac. Any increase would be devastating to growers who provide vital employment in rural Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.
There is no upside to this destructive tax. In the seven years since it was first introduced, there has been no directly correlated improvement in health outcomes for South Africans.
Ultimately, we believe that the Treasury should scrap the tax, and the government should commit to policies that drive job creation and economic growth, such as the Sugar Industry Value Chain Master Plan 2030. This compact between industry and government has the potential to create new markets for sugarcane growers and kickstart new industrialisation projects in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.
Agricultural jobs are critically important to the stability of South Africa and to making sure that we reduce rural poverty. SA Canegrowers will continue to ask for action to stop this job-killing tax, and for the government to prioritise economic growth and jobs.
ENDS
For media enquiries:
Gerhard Mulder
gerhard@resolvecommunications.co.za
083 305 9361