Ban will burn small traders
The South African Informal Traders Association (Saita) calls on government to consult properly before proceeding with its proposed ban on the display of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Saita represents tens of thousands of informal traders, hawkers, spaza shop owners and homebased operators across all nine provinces in SA.
The health minister has said he is going to ban the display of cigarettes by all traders and retailers, no matter how big or small. If you are one of the thousands of hawkers, informal traders or spaza shop owners in SA this ban will hit you hard. We estimate that about a third of the average informal traders’ income comes from cigarette sales. These are people who already struggle to make a living. If their cigarette market is taken away, they may be driven to a life of crime.
The proposed ban doesn’t make sense. The minister seems to think that by hiding cigarettes away, people will stop smoking. Anyone can tell you that it won’t work. Smokers want a cigarette and so they will go find them. But if you can’t see that a trader sells cigarettes, and more importantly, your brand of cigarettes, you will just walk past to another seller.
Saita wrote to the minister about the proposed ban a year ago, but no one has consulted us. The government is always talking about how important small businesses are for employment, and yet they are not doing much to look after our interests.
Saita is also concerned about how the proposed display ban will lead to an increase in the illicit trade in cigarettes. Hiding cigarettes from sight will make it easier for criminals to distribute and sell illegal or counterfeit cigarettes. The illegal cigarette trade is already a huge problem in SA, and banning the display of cigarettes will play into the hands of the criminals and penalise our members. We should be fighting criminals, not helping them.
We understand minister Aaron Motsoaledi wants to stop people smoking, especially the youth. But the solution is not to hide the products, the solution is education. Go into the schools and show our kids what smoking does to you.
Rosheda Muller
Acting president, Saita