#SugarTax: Have you tried to cut down on sugar?

Cape Town – With the debate about a planned tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) heating up, Fin24 ran a snap poll on the sugar intake of readers. Most of the participants indicated that they have managed to reduce their sugar consumption. 

During public hearings on the proposed bill on sugar tax on soft drinks, energy drinks and sweetened milk, committee chairperson, Yunus Carrim noted in parliament that all the health experts that were present at the hearings to argue that the sugary tax was necessary, agreed that obesity is a problem.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) representative told the committee that fiscal policies and taxes on SSB are the best practice to protect the population’s health and to demonstrate leadership in sub-Saharan Africa. Rufaro Chatora said taxes raised should be used for programmes to promote health.

READ: A bitter debate

"Cardiovascular disease in SA is the second highest cause of death,"said the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Pamela Naidoo. She said epidemiological studies in South Africa are far more reliable and she urged the committee to trust the statistics they presented to them.

Fin24 asked users on Twitter if they have ever tried to cut down on sugar, a 45% said they have tried successfully. 33% said it was hard and 22% said they have tried.

Meanwhile, the sugar association calculated that a drop in sugar sales would result in a loss of 3 990 permanent jobs and 6 300 seasonal jobs, with small-scale growers being the hardest hit.

Mapule Ncanywa, BevSA’s executive director, said 75 000 jobs in the sector were at risk, but in its presentation, Treasury put overall job losses at “about 5 000 at most”.

But job losses seemed to make little impression on committee members, who asked why the industry could not diversify or approach Parliament to discuss solutions, such as alternative uses for sugar – for instance, sugar production for biofuels – and increasing import tariffs on sugar.