SA’s future sugar tax plans could potentially be penned by its dominant sugar industry

Task Team 7 is part of a 10-year plan to save South Africa's sugar industry from threats like cheap sugar and the sugar tax.

Task Team 7’s job is to come up with a sugar tax plan that allows the industry to pivot despite what it claims are existential threats posed in part by the drop in sugar demand that followed the HPL.According to the sugar rescue plan, they’re likely dominated by the same businesses that went to extreme lengths to oppose the sugar tax from the start, including the Beverage Association of South Africa which represents soda giants including Coca-Cola.

The country’s anti-trust regulator’s powers are diminished too. Talks held as part of phase one of the sugar plan, which ended in March 2023, were, including that all meetings must be recorded and sent to the Competition Commission. At the time of publishing, spokesperson Siyabulela Makunga was waiting for the South African Sugar Asscation to say whether he can disclose any information including whether the Commission received the recordings.

These allies are the DTIC, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, as well as food manufacturers, farmers, marketers and retailers . This allegiance, and the fact that the state sees these industries as a way to reach their jobs target generally leaves the other two coalitions — health and food security — in the dust.

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