Big Tobacco fights S Africa ban

‘Those decisions include the right to make a decision that may be the wrong one, even if it is harmful to you’

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO has launched a court case against South Africa over its government’s unprecedented four-month ban on the sale of tobacco.

The multinational cigarette giant described the national ban as “unjustifiable”, “unconstitutional” and “unscientific” at a hearing of the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town this week.

The government has previously said that smoking posed great risks in the time of Covid-19, and a government representative told the court that

“lives and livelihoods” were at stake. In late March, South Africa imposed sweeping lockdown measures to limit the spread of coronavirus, bringing life to an almost complete standstill.

South Africans were only allowed to go out to buy food or visit the doctor, and the sale of alcohol and cigarettes were banned for health reasons. While many of the other measures have been lifted, the tobacco ban is still in place.

Now, multiple tobacco companies are protesting against the policy.

British American Tobacco South Africa, which covers an estimated 78 per cent of the legal cigarette market in the country, is by far the most significant challenger.

In court, Alfred Cockrell, counsel for the company, argued that “the rights to make those decisions include the right to make a decision that may be a wrong one, even if it is harmful to you”.

Mr Cockrell said the ban had “devastated” South Africa’s tobacco industry.