By Celani Sikhakhane
Black farmers in KwaZulu-Natal say the government’s sugar tax is destroying their businesses, with some firing workers and cutting costs to survive.
Reverend Hawu Mbatha, a sugarcane farmer from KwaZulu-Natal, told Scrolla.Africa the tax has become a “curse” for small-scale black farmers.
“Because of this sugar tax, I’ve had no choice but to cut down on my staff and reduce working hours for the few who remain,” he said.
“We are suffering. Black farmers don’t have generational wealth like our white counterparts. That’s why you never hear white farmers making noise about this tax – they have the Land Bank to back them up.”
Mbatha said the tax is crushing black farmers who don’t have the resources to cope with rising costs.
“It’s painful that our own government came up with such a tax, which has become a heavy burden on us. My children don’t even want to inherit the farm because they see the suffering we are going through,” he said.
Mbatha said many young people in rural sugarcane growing areas are falling into poverty because farmers are being forced to retrench workers. He can no longer afford the 2,000 litres of diesel he needs each month to keep his farm running.
“I believe in science and research, but I wish the Department of Health and the Department of Finance could come to my farm and see the damage their sugar tax is doing to us as black farmers,” he said, urging the government to scrap the tax entirely.
The sugar tax, a Health Promotion Levy, was introduced in April 2018 to reduce sugar consumption and tackle obesity in South Africa.
The South African Canegrowers Association and the South African Farmers Development Association (Safda) also warn that the tax is pushing thousands of black farmers out of business.
Safda said if the government continues with the tax, the sugarcane industry could lose 25,000 farmers, plunging hundreds of thousands of people into poverty.
Although Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana granted a two-year break from tax increases in February 2023 to give the industry time to diversify and restructure, Mbatha and other black farmers say it’s not enough time.
According to a Nedlac study, the sugarcane farming and milling sectors lost 12,860 jobs by 2019, with 250,000 tons of sugar sales lost in the first year of the sugar tax.
A Human Sciences Research Council study found in March 2024 that almost 50% of adult South Africans are overweight or obese and that 13% of South African children between the ages of six and 14 are considered overweight or obese.
Pictured above: Reverend Hawu Mbatha pleads with the government to scrap the sugar tax that is destroying black farmers’ livelihoods.
Image source: X
