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The horrifying news that more than a third of working-age South Africans are officially unemployed should jolt us all, including our unity government, into solving the country’s jobs crisis (“Number of unemployed people rises to 8.4-million record high”, August 13).
We must understand, too, what joblessness means for 8.7-million South Africans and their families, and the many more who have stopped looking for work.Unemployment means poverty, it means misery for families and communities, and it will increase starvation and malnutrition.
This dire situation should focus government on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise last month to increase the number of essential foods that are exempt from the 15% VAT. Top of that list should be chicken, the country’s most popular and affordable source of meat protein and an essential part of the diet of poor families.
VAT-free chicken is a pro-poor proposal. It would target the chicken portions most consumed by low-income households, and bring immediate relief to stressed family budgets.It would also help lower another horrific SA statistic: almost 30% of the country’s children under the age of five are stunted. Stunting is caused by malnutrition, and it affects these children physically and mentally for the rest of their lives.
In 2017 the SA Child Gauge study put the stunting rate at 27%. This month the Human Sciences Research Council raised that to 28.8%. The council also said 63.5% of SA households suffer some degree of food insecurity.
There is no meat in the VAT-free basket, yet meat protein is a dietary essential. Chicken comprises 66% of the meat consumed in SA and is mostly produced in rural areas, where jobs are scarce and malnutrition and stunting levels are high.
VAT relief for SA chicken is desperately needed to help our poor and jobless families.
Francois Baird Founder, FairPlay
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Expand VAT-exempt foods
The horrifying news that more than a third of working-age South Africans are officially unemployed should jolt us all, including our unity government, into solving the country’s jobs crisis (“Number of unemployed people rises to 8.4-million record high”, August 13).
We must understand, too, what joblessness means for 8.7-million South Africans and their families, and the many more who have stopped looking for work. Unemployment means poverty, it means misery for families and communities, and it will increase starvation and malnutrition.
This dire situation should focus government on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise last month to increase the number of essential foods that are exempt from the 15% VAT. Top of that list should be chicken, the country’s most popular and affordable source of meat protein and an essential part of the diet of poor families.
VAT-free chicken is a pro-poor proposal. It would target the chicken portions most consumed by low-income households, and bring immediate relief to stressed family budgets. It would also help lower another horrific SA statistic: almost 30% of the country’s children under the age of five are stunted. Stunting is caused by malnutrition, and it affects these children physically and mentally for the rest of their lives.
In 2017 the SA Child Gauge study put the stunting rate at 27%. This month the Human Sciences Research Council raised that to 28.8%. The council also said 63.5% of SA households suffer some degree of food insecurity.
There is no meat in the VAT-free basket, yet meat protein is a dietary essential. Chicken comprises 66% of the meat consumed in SA and is mostly produced in rural areas, where jobs are scarce and malnutrition and stunting levels are high.
VAT relief for SA chicken is desperately needed to help our poor and jobless families.
Francois Baird
Founder, FairPlay
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Number of unemployed people rises to 8.4-million record high
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