The government says it has collected US$30,8 million from the special surtax on sugar content in beverages since the gazetting of Statutory Instrument 16 of 2024, the Customs and Excise (Tariff) (Amendment) Notice, 2024 (No 5) on February 9, 2024, to date.
Responding to the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights through their lawyers Kantor & Immerman in a letter dated December 13, 2024, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion permanent secretary George Guvamatanga said: “I refer to the above captioned and specifically your letter of November 25, 2024 in that regard.
“You requested for information regarding the amount of the that has been collected from the date of gazetting of the Customs and Excise (Tariff) (Amendment) Notice, 2024 published in Statutory Instrument 16 of 2024 and an account of what cancer drugs and equipment have been procured to date and to which hospitals these have been distributed. Please note my response hereof.
“Thirty million eight hundred thousand United States dollars (US$30,8 million) of special surtax on sugar content in beverages has been collected as of November 2024.”
Guvamatanga’s response came after the human rights doctors last month wrote to government demanding information on how much money had been collected from the special surtax on sugar content in beverages and if it has been used for the intended purposes.
The doctors said they were requesting the information in terms of section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act [Chapter 10:33].
On what the money had been used for, Guvamatanga responded: “The procurement of drugs and medical equipment is under the purview of the Health and Child Care ministry. Hence, the Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion ministry is not the competent authority to give you information on your second request.”
In the 2024 national budget, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion minister Mthuli Ncube last November proposed tax on high sugar content beverages, saying the revenue generated would go towards the creation of a cancer fund.
He introduced the tax at US$0,02 per gramme of sugar in a refreshment beverage, which he later revised to US$0,002 after complaints by manufacturers and the figure will be slashed to US$0,0005 with effect from January 1, 2025.
