Durban - Members of the Food and Allied Workers Union took to the streets on Thursday to march against the government’s proposed tax sugar, saying the move could lead to massive job cuts.
The union, whose members marched through the Durban city centre from King Dinizulu Park to City Hall, said the government should tackle obesity in other ways, rather than imposing a tax on sugar.
In addition to the proposed sugar tax, Fawu also registered its displeasure on chicken imports that were affecting local chicken producers.
Atwell Nazo, the president of Fawu, handed over a memorandum detailing their concerns to a representative from the national Treasury and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government.
Nazo said both the sugar tax and the dumping of chicken would lead to an increase in unemployment.
Evidence
“Research has revealed that more than 5 000 jobs are going to be affected due to this sugar tax. We therefore cannot allow it, because there was no evidence that proved those jobs lost would be created elsewhere in the industry,” said Nazo.
He said Fawu would challenge the government to make sure that their concerns were heard.
“We are proposing a national summit that will come up with clear policies to address most of the problems of health in the country. Next year, before the announcement of the budget speech, we are planning to have huge marches nationally, before the unilateral implementation of such tax,” said Nazo.
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The government announced plans to introduce a one percent tax on sugar and sweetened beverages from next year, to reduce the use of sugar.
The government believes that sugar is one of the main reasons for rising obesity in South Africa.
Nazo said there were many other causes of obesity and only targeting sugar was short-sighted.