Advocacy group FairPlay has vowed to continue its campaign for VAT-free chicken following the government’s apparent exclusion of frozen chicken portions from a revised VAT-free basket of foods, which now includes only chicken offal.
This flows from the revised statement on new zero-rated food items included in the budget statement.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the government would implement various measures to protect vulnerable households from the proposed increases in VAT.
These include “expanding the basket of VAT zero-rated food items to include canned vegetables, dairy liquid blends, and organ meats from sheep, poultry and other animals”.
Organ meats probably refer to offal from sheep, poultry and beef, such as chicken heads and feet, and internal organs such as hearts and livers. It could also include beef and sheep offal.
In the budget speech not delivered last month, the VAT-free proposal referred to “a variety of meat products from sheep, poultry, goat and swine”, says FairPlay founder Francois Baird.
Pork has now been removed from the proposal, and “variety meat products” has been tightened to “organ meats”.
Baird says that would exclude the frozen chicken portions, including the popular supermarket packs of individually quick-frozen (IQF) chicken pieces that the South African poultry industry and FairPlay have repeatedly said should be free of VAT.
“VAT-free chicken has been a cause for the FairPlay movement since 2018, because chicken is the most popular and affordable meat protein,” he points out.
Earlier this month, StatsSA reported that South Africa was in a “food insecurity crisis” because more South Africans were experiencing higher levels of food insecurity.
Chicken feeds the nation. It makes up 66% of all meat consumed and is the primary source of meat protein for low-income households.
“Cheaper chicken is therefore essential for a healthier South Africa."
