NZAMA MBALATI: SA cannot afford the health cost of unregulated sugar products

We are not surprised by the sugar sector’s pushback against the implementation of a progressive health policy designed to save the lives of ordinary South Africans, but its misinformation campaign cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.

The SA Canegrowers Association, in its bid for the sugar tax to be scrapped, has claimed that there is no evidence that such efforts have had a positive impact on obesity levels (“Sugar industry renews call for scrapping of health tax”, December 8).

In the budget speech of 2022 an increase was announced for the health promotion levy (HPL) to allow for inflation. This was retracted in April by the National Treasury after pressure from the sugar association.

The Treasury has been less than transparent about its consultations in this regard. Recently the sugar industry has come out strongly against the HPL, citing the potential collapse of the sugar industry and glossing over the effect excessive sugar consumption has on obesity levels.

Not only are the sugar companies calling for a delay in implementing the HPL, but cane growers are now calling for it to be completely scrapped. The data they use is manufactured to suit their purpose. In other words. it is “fake news” that has not been subject to any transparency or review.

In addition, in this era of climate change nothing is ever acknowledged regarding the harm caused by sugar cane growth. At a minimum it causes habitat loss and has a cumulative impact on biodiversity, and results in excessive water consumption in cultivation, soil erosion and declining soil health. A fact that is never considered is that it takes 1,500-3,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of sugar.

The sugar industry saw decades of decline before the sugar tax, a decline that was fuelled by cheap sugar imports, high local production costs, deteriorating infrastructure and a lack of competitiveness.  

The association claims that many jobs will be lost due to the levy. Yet it fails to acknowledge that this is impossible to measure. According to the US department of agriculture, raw sugar production in SA is expected to fall by 2% to 2-million tonnes in the 2022/23 season due to a reduction in the quantity of cane delivered to mills, limited crushing capacity as a result of the closure of two sugar mills, and a decline in mill efficiencies. 

Experts have also cited high local production costs when compared with other sugar exporters, deteriorating infrastructure, and sugar “dumping”. We acknowledge that the current economic environment is causing difficulties for workers. But the long-term costs of not taking action to reduce sugar consumption are higher and affect everyone.

Contrary to the disinformation being spread by the association, there is a lot of evidence supporting the link between sugar and obesity. And there is significant evidence that taxes reduce consumption.

The sugar industry conveniently glosses over the links between obesity and noncommunicable diseases. The SA National Burden of Disease study ranked high excess weight as the fifth highest risk factor for early death and years of life lived with disability.  SA has been ranked the most obese nation in Sub-Saharan Africa. The cost of obesity to the SA economy is staggering.

Researchers from Wits University found that “overweight and obesity are costing SA’s health system R33bn a year. This represents 15.38% of government health expenditure and is equivalent to 0.67% of GDP. Annual per person cost of overweight and obesity is R2,769.”

This is mainly as a result of obesity related diabetes and high blood pressure. Overweight and obesity were respectively implicated in 18% and 57% pulmonary embolism deaths respectively among mothers. 

There is hard evidence showing that the HPL led to a significant reduction in cool drink consumption in its first year, confirming that the sugar tax is working. However, unless there is an increase for inflation — which has not happened since 2019 — this effectiveness will gradually wear off. Already revenue collected by government via this tax has decreased. 

We cannot allow the profit-based interests of small groups to derail the health status of all South Africans.

• Mbalati is head of programmes at Heala, a coalition of civil society organisations advocating for equitable access to affordable, nutritious food by building a more just food system.