SowetanLive reports that the SA Informal Traders Alliance (Saita) has called on the government to remove tariff taxes and VAT on chicken products.

Saita, which represents more than two million informal and micro businesses across SA, made this call on Tuesday, saying that it would provide relief for both informal traders and consumers from low-income households as prices of this important food source were continuing to escalate. Saita’s Rosheda Muller said South Africans were struggling financially, adding that the cost of living seemed to be rising to unsustainable levels. She said wages were not increasing in the same direction as expenses. "Chicken is perhaps the most important part of our diet, and often the only meat that communities can afford. For this reason, government would do well to consider removing both VAT and all other taxes that come in the form of tariffs, to help its people survive," Muller stated. She went on to indicate: “The problem is that the price of all nutrition-rich products eaten in poorer communities is going up. This includes the price of eggs and chicken gizzards up by 15%, chicken feet by 10%, liver 32%, beef liver 30%, beef, wors and chicken pieces 11%, polony 21%, fish 7% and canned pilchards 9%.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nomazima Nkosi at SowetanLive

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page