TAMPON TAX: EVERYTHING YOU NEED ΤΟ KNOW

SANITARY PRODUCTS BECAME ZERO-VAT-II RATED IN SOUTH AFRICA BACK IN 2019. BUT THE QUESTION IS, WHAT DID IT TAKE FOR US TO FINALLY GET TO THAT POINT - AND HOW FAR DO WE STILL NEED TO GO?

- GLYNIS HORNING

THE STRIDES WE'VE MADE SO FAR

Fittingly, it was in his 'maiden' mid-term budget speech to Parliament, in October 2018, that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni finally announced that sanitary pads would be reclassified as a zero-rated VAT item from 1 April 2019. He also revealed that by way of increases to provincial budgets, sanitary products would be distributed for free to girls at public schools. This was the culmination of many, many years of campaigns, both here in SA and globally, ranging from the #BecauseWeBleed to the popular #TamponTaxMustFall.

At the vanguard of the cause in South Africa, specifically, have been women's rights advocates and a few legal bodies such as the Stellenbosch University (SU) Law Clinic, Femme Projects and Sheba Feminine with the work of organisations including the social movement, Equal Education (EE).