Union march against illicit trading in SA
HUNDREDS of Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) members marched to Parliament yesterday to voice their outrage against illicit trading and the lack of proper legislation to deal with illegal traders.
Fawu leaders handed over a memorandum to Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete’s office.
“We are here today to call on policy makers and lawmakers to take the issue of illegal trading seriously,” said Fawu general secretary Katishi Masemola. It was the second time Fawu had protested.
Last week, union members marched to the SA Revenue Service (Sars) head office in Pretoria to protest over the illicit trade of tobacco in the country.
According to a report released by the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa (Tisa), South Africa had lost about R27 billion in unpaid taxes (excise duty and VAT) due to illegal cigarette trading since 2010.
Fawu also wanted legislation on sugar tax not to be signed into law, but re-negotiated. The union claims it represents the vast majority of workers in the sugar industry.
It also wants task teams to discuss the Liquor Bill and the poultry crisis.
Last year, the Department of Trade and Industry established a task team to look into challenges facing the domestic poultry industry.
The union gave Mbete’s office 14 days to respond to the memorandum.
“We will go back to the drawing board and decide what to do next,” Masemola said.
Peter Lebeko, a representative from the Speaker’s office, accepted the memorandum.