Cigarette ban has failed

Enough now! It appears that minister Nkosazana DlaminiZuma is single-handedly responsible for the ban on cigarette and alcohol sales through level 4 of lockdown [and the continued ban on cigarettes from level 3].

Yes, they are a health risk but so are many other things. Being grossly overweight, as so many politicians are, driving a vehicle, or even walking on or next to a road, taking too many pills, eating junk food ... the list of potential risks to health is endless.

So is it reasonable or possible to ban every risk to one’s health? Should junk food restaurants and pharmacies be closed? Should it be a crime to eat too much? Should driving be banned?

Every individual makes his or her own choice as to what risks they are willing to take.

The ban on alcohol and cigarette sales has cost many people their income and it has deprived Sars of a huge amount of tax that could have been used to help fund the fight against Covid-19.

Why not take the view that the taxes paid help other people? And perhaps worst of all is that limited police resources are being wasted on trying to enforce these regulations instead of helping to prevent the outrageous incidence of long queues of people who are not keeping to social-distancing protocols.

The ban is impossible to enforce, as can be seen from the fact that there is a huge black market for cigarettes and alcohol, and there is no way that the entire market can be policed.

Some sellers may get caught, yes, but the majority will just slip through the net.

As far as I am aware, SA is the only country in the world to have been foolish enough to try to impose these bans, and for such an extended period of time.

It’s ridiculous and it has failed.

Lift the ban and put the much-needed tax revenue back where it belongs instead of in the pockets of the increasingly greedy black marketeers.

Denise du Preez, Port Elizabeth