The government’s decision to ban the sale of cigarettes during the country’s Covid-19 lockdown has been declared unconstitutional. The Western Cape High Court on Friday ruled that regulation 45 of the Disaster Management Act — under which…
When the sale of cigarettes was prohibited during the coronavirus lockdown, trade in the banned product was more profitable than drugs. This is according to a Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime report, which found that selling…
The health-care benefits cited by co-operative governance & traditional affairs (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for the decision to ban tobacco sales during the lockdown pale in comparison with the financial ruin it has caused.…
The illegal cigarette trade is nothing new but supply and demand has made it far more profitable during the country’s ban on the sale of tobacco products. This view was shared by top investigative journalist Jacques Pauw on Tuesday during…
Smokers gathered in their numbers on Wednesday morning, under the banner of #smokersunitesa, to protest against the ban on tobacco. About 50 smokers participated in a national protest outside the City Hall today with the intention of…
She smoked for more than half her life, and while she often considered quitting, a Nelson Mandela Bay woman could never quite muster the willpower to stomp out the bad habit. However, today she has been left with little choice as the ban…
‘The fact that a substance is addictive does not render it essential’, three high court judges ruled. “The application by Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association is dismissed.” With these words, the high court ruled on Friday that the…
The Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) argued before the full bench of the high court in Pretoria on Wednesday why it wants regulations prohibiting the sale of tobacco products under level 4 and 3 of the lockdown declared…
In this episode of Boots on the ground: behind SA’s national lockdown, we chat to restaurateurs turned cigarette smugglers. In light of the North Gauteng High Court ruling that the lockdown regulations are “unconstitutional and invalid”,…
Bev Maclean, a public activist who attracted more than 607,000 signatures in a petition on Change.org to overturn SA’s ban on cigarette sales, has joined tobacco companies in their court battle. Maclean joined British American Tobacco,…
“It appears that Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma lied to South Africans in her justification for the continued ban on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. If this is…
Co-operative governance minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has tabled draft level 3 regulations that propose lifting the ban on alcohol sales, but extending the prohibition on cigarette sales. The regulations also propose opening up all…
Alleged links between Cogta minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and tobacco kingpin Adriano Mazzotti has fueled debate over what is really driving the continued ban on tobacco sales. In 2017, the Sunday Times reported that Dlamini-Zuma had a…
Economists behind an extensive survey of smokers say the lockdown ban on cigarette sales has been a spectacular failure and should be lifted as soon as possible. More than 90% of the 12,000-plus smokers who completed an online…
