{"id":24694,"date":"2016-04-18T03:10:53","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T03:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/sa-fat-tax-plan-fails-to-halt-sweet-drinks\/"},"modified":"2016-04-18T03:10:42","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T03:10:42","slug":"sa-fat-tax-plan-fails-to-halt-sweet-drinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/sa-fat-tax-plan-fails-to-halt-sweet-drinks\/","title":{"rendered":"SA \u2018fat tax\u2019 plan fails to halt sweet drinks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>{Half of adult women and a third of adult men in SA are too heavy, say experts.}<\/p>\n<p>South Africa plans a new \u201cfat tax\u201d on sugary drinks to combat an obesity epidemic \u2014 but sweet-toothed consumers say its chances are slim of making them cut down.<\/p>\n<p>Ranked as one of the most obese nations on the continent, South Africa is joining a growing list of countries around the world, such as Britain and Mexico, trying to put a cap on fizzy drinks.<\/p>\n<p>But even health experts, who welcome the proposed levy, don\u2019t believe the tax will single-handedly discourage South Africans from popping open bottles of sugar-packed soda and sweetened juices.<\/p>\n<p>The levy, announced by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his budget in February, will come into effect in April next year.<\/p>\n<p>It is aimed not only at saving people from their own unhealthy appetites but at offsetting the economic costs of diseases related to obesity.<\/p>\n<p>In Zandspruit, a township west of Johannesburg, 30-year-old insurance broker Thulani Masango scoffs at the levy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know sugar causes diabetes and obesity, but&#8230; we cannot survive without sugar,\u201d said Masango, as he strolled down a dusty street.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we speak, the price of meat has gone up, but we continue braaing (barbecuing). Alcohol goes up almost every year, we still drink.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the same with sugar. It\u2019s something that is uncontrollable,\u201d said Masango.<\/p>\n<p>A Zandspruit supermarket supervisor and mother of two, Anastacia Tshabalala, 53, agrees. She believes that sugar is addictive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSugar is sugar! We are going to take it no matter what. Even if the price goes up, we have to take sugar everyday \u2014 you can\u2019t live without it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>South African endocrinologist Professor Tess van der Merwe, who says half of adult women and a third of adult men in South Africa are \u201coverweight\u201d, is also sceptical.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are epidemic proportions,\u201d she said, adding that about 15 per cent of South Africans are in the \u201cmorbidly obese category\u201d \u2014 more than 100 pounds or 45 kilogrammes overweight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t believe that it will curb the epidemic unless we have a definitive preventative and treatment strategy in place \u2014 like tax didn\u2019t curb alcohol use,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-11760 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/cocacola.jpg\" alt=\"A man drinking soft drink \u201cCoca Cola\u201d in the Township of Zandspruit, Greater Johannesburg, South Africa. \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{Half of adult women and a third of adult men in SA are too heavy, say experts.} South Africa plans a new \u201cfat tax\u201d on sugary drinks to combat an obesity epidemic \u2014 but sweet-toothed consumers say its chances are slim of making them cut down. Ranked as one of the most obese nations on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[2461],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-24694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-daily-nation"],"bylines":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24694"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=24694"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=24694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}