Calls for government to get rid of major tax in South Africa

• SA Canegrowers has called on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to scrap South Africa’s Health Promotion Levy (HPL) as a 'burden on the sugar industry' that the South African government could lift immediately by scrapping it.
• The sugar industry lost 250,000 tons of sugar sales in the first year of the tax alone, while two mills in KwaZulu-Natal have since shut down due to the HPL. A study commissioned by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) found that 16,000 jobs had been lost across sugarcane farming and milling by 2019.
• SA Canegrowers questioned the purpose of maintaining a levy which imposes substantial costs on the sugar industry while its proceeds are not directed towards health objectives.