The poultry industry is not giving up on its drive to have South Africa’s 15% VAT removed from chicken portions.
The organisation took its drive to parliament last week, with Izaak Breitenbach of the SA Poultry Association (Sapa) raising the issue during a joint meeting of parliament’s standing committee on finance and the select committee on finance.
The committees were briefed by lawyers for Sapa.
According to FairPlay, Breitenbach said that both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana had recognised the critical need to mitigate the pressures faced by vulnerable, low-income households.
“Despite this, we have not seen any tangible outcomes in the 2026 Budget, other than a modest increase in government grants that fails to keep pace with inflationary pressures on essential food items.”
FairPlay points out that Breitenbach expressed concern that the 2026 Budget had failed to expand the list of basic food items on which no VAT was charged.
“This omission is particularly troubling given the continued and well-documented financial pressures facing vulnerable households across the country and the persistent challenge of food insecurity and malnutrition among low-income communities.”
Breitenbach urged the committees to give “serious and urgent consideration” to expanding the list of zero-rated food items. He proposed the removal of VAT from frozen chicken meat on the bone and from fresh and frozen chicken offal, including livers, feet and heads.
The only animal protein on the VAT-free list is tinned pilchards. However, chicken was the animal protein most consumed by lower-income households, he said.
“The zero rating of chicken is a precisely targeted instrument that will disproportionately benefit poor and low-income households who are reliant on chicken as their primary source of animal protein.”
