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Oil AK-47cheaper than a book, says Uys
April 23, 2003 Edition -1
It is cheaper in South Africa today to buy a second-hand AK-47 assault rifle than it is to buy a new Harry Potter book by JK Rowling.
That's the message author, satirist and social campaigner Pieter-Dirk Uys will bring as part of the campaign to have VAT removed from books.
From police and other sources, he has discovered that it is possible to buy one of these weapons for as little as R150. Many paperback books are considerably more expensive.
Uys, along with other authors, will collect signatures in central Cape Town today for a submission to parliament to have the 14% VAT on books removed. The action is part of activities for World Book Day.
The campaign has already collected tens of thousands of individual signatures and won the backing of all three trade union federations, along with support from libraries, schools and tertiary institutions around the country.
Nora Buchanan, acting librarian at the University of Natal in Durban, said the amount paid on VAT each year by the university library would be "enough to purchase several medical or science journals much needed for vital research".
The submission was launched by the Campaign Against Reader Exploitation (Care).
"The government encourages reading on the one hand and then makes it more expensive on the other," said Bankole Omotoso, the Nigerian-born academic, author and actor.
"Purchase price is a critical consideration for most people, and particularly for those on lower incomes," noted Care volunteer Barbara Edmunds. "Books, in this context, become a luxury and this is tragic, especially in a country with a 60% illiteracy rate," she said.
Care supporters have also lobbied a number of parliamentarians and ministers and, in December, the Department of Arts and Culture officially stated that it would be looking into ways to remove VAT from books. However, this investigation was halted in January.
"We were told to wait for the budget," said Care co-ordinator Terry Bell. "But the budget came and went without any mention of VAT on books."
Support can be pledged by e-mail at dropvat@hotmail.com.
"It is a campaign very close to my heart," said Pieter-Dirk Uys. "There is something very wrong when an AK (47) costs less than a JK (Rowling)." - Staff Reporter
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