South Africa plans a new “fat tax” on sugary drinks to combat an obesity epidemic — but sweet-toothed consumers say its chances of making them cut down are slim.
Ranked as one of the most obese nations on the continent, South Africa is joining a growing list of countries around the world, such as Britain and Mexico, trying to put a cap on fizzy drinks.
However, even health experts, who welcome the proposed levy, say they do not believe the tax would single-handedly discourage South Africans from popping open bottles of sugar-packed soda and sweetened juices.
Photo: AFP
The levy, announced by South African Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan in his budget in February, is to come into effect in April next year.
It is aimed not only at saving people from their own unhealthy appetites, but at offsetting the economic costs of diseases related to obesity. In Zandspruit, a township west of Johannesburg, 30-year-old insurance broker Thulani Masango scoffed at the levy.
“We know sugar causes diabetes and obesity, but ... we cannot survive without sugar,” Masango said.
“As we speak, the price of meat has gone up, but we continue braaing [barbecuing]. Alcohol goes up almost every year — we still drink. It is the same with sugar. It is something that is uncontrollable,” he said.
A Zandspruit supermarket supervisor and mother of two, Anastacia Tshabalala, 53, agreed. She said she believes that sugar is addictive.
“Sugar is sugar. We are going to take it no matter what. Even if the price goes up, we have to take sugar everyday — you cannot live without it,” she said.
South African endocrinologist Professor Tess van der Merwe, who said half of adult women and one-third of adult men in South Africa are “overweight,” is also skeptical.
“These are epidemic proportions,” she said, adding that about 15 percent of South Africans are in the “morbidly obese category” — more than 45kg overweight.
“I do not believe that it will curb the epidemic unless we have a definitive preventative and treatment strategy in place — like tax did not curb alcohol use,” she said.
Obesity rates are rising sharply among African children.
A WHO-commissioned study released in January showed that childhood obesity has become an “exploding nightmare” in the developing world, including Africa.
The number of overweight or obese children younger than five nearly doubled from 1990 to 2014, from 5.4 million to 10.3 million.
The WHO declared obesity a disease 10 years ago, but people still struggle to accept it as a deadly disease.
“People need to realize that there are more people dying from obesity [related illnesses] than from any other disease in the world,” Van der Merwe said.
Gordhan has yet to reveal the proposed taxation rates, but a Plos-One study published in 2014 projected that a 20 percent tax on sugary drinks would reduce obesity in South Africa by 2.4 percent and 3.8 percent for females and males respectively.
Manufacturers of sugar-sweetened drinks in South Africa say they believe the tax could lead to job losses.
“For the treasury to announce a tax on only one category of foods is discriminatory,” Beverage Association of South Africa executive director Mapule Ncanywa said. “We do not think that it is going to have the desired result of reducing excessive intake of sugar, let alone obesity for that matter.”
Security guard Thomas Sithole, who relies on caffeine and sugar-laden energy drinks to make it through his night shifts, is concerned that the tax might be disastrous for him.
“There are things they can tax, but not sugar... Everybody needs sugar,” Sithole said, seated outside a local soft-drink shop after his night’s work.
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