Tobacco ban battle set for court
Fita application to be heard, Batsa says betrayed by government
THE battle to allow the sale of cigarettes under lockdown alert level 3 intensified with the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) set to meet government in court on June 9 and 10.
Meanwhile, British American Tobacco South Africa (Batsa) – which had also earlier threatened court action – launched a broadside against the decision to continue with the ban, saying the government had betrayed its trust.
In a statement yesterday, Batsa said it was “commencing urgent legal proceedings to challenge the government’s decision to extend the ban on tobacco sales during level 3”.
The company said it was supported in this action by Japan Tobacco International as well as others including tobacco farmers, retailers and consumers.
In the statement, Batsa said it had withdrawn its initial legal challenge in level 4 after being led to believe that the government would engage with them directly and allow it to make a case for lifting the ban in level 3.
However, Batsa said efforts to engage were ignored and on Thursday, Minister of Co-operative Governance Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma confirmed the ban would remain.
The Gauteng High Court Pretoria yesterday advised that the Fita application would be heard before a full bench (three judges), with the matter set down for Tuesday and Wednesday week.
Smokers Unite One – a Facebook group which consists of 289 000 members – yesterday issued an affidavit with the court, asking for permission to join Fita’s proceedings.
Batsa said the government decided to maintain the ban on tobacco products under the guise of limiting the spread of Covid-19 while allowing all other previously banned consumer products to go back on sale.
According to its statement, Batsa said it had long argued that the banning of a legal product would have dire consequences – driving millions of smokers to the illicit market, robbing the government of much-needed excise tax contributions, undercutting tobacco control regulations, encouraging criminal behaviour, and threatening thousands of jobs.
The Treasury is losing R35 million of vitally required revenue in excise taxes every day as the ban on cigarette sales continues.
This comes at a time during which the illicit tobacco trade is flourishing, with cigarettes costing at least three times the usual price.
Dlamini Zuma this week filed papers in opposing Fita’s constitutional challenge in which she said the banning of tobacco was a matter of protecting lives.
She said the country had a culture of “rolling” and “sharing” tobacco products, which posed the risk of cross-infection of the Covid-19 virus.
She pointed to studies which show that the severity of Covid-19 outcomes was greater in smokers than non-smokers.
Annemarie Beets of Smokers Unite One said in its bid to join Fita’s application it was representing the rights of the general smoking population in the country who were deemed voiceless.
Beets said the ban must be lifted because it infringed on the rights of the about 11 million smokers in South Africa.
Ban must be lifted as it infringed on the rights of 11 million smokers in SA Annemarie Beets
SMOKERS UNITE ONE