Coronavirus Lockdown: Ain’t no drag getting hold of cigarettes By Ferial Haffajee ferialhaffajee
WhatsApp and Uber have made the sale of cigarettes dead easy. We wanted to test how easy it is to buy them under lockdown. Via a friend, we sent a WhatsApp to a trader, feigning smokers’ withdrawal and desperation. It’s a common message because there are about six million smokers in the country and, with the extended ban on the sale of cigarettes, they have not suddenly given up smoking in an act of mass compliance. In very South African ways, plans are being made.
The salesperson could help with two cartons of Marlboro and a pack of Courtleigh, but not with Kent. We took what we could get. The next WhatsApp chat sorted out the cost: “1 x Marlboro gold R900, 1 x Marlboro blue ice R900, 1 x loose Courtleigh 60. Don’t forget 200 bucks for the uber bra .” Banking details were communicated and the EFT was done.
“You speak to someone who knows someone who knows someone,” said a smoker from Grassy Park on the Cape Flats in Cape Town, explaining how the trade works there. “But the price is going up – it was R60, now it’s R85 .” “People don’t understand it’s not to punish them. Remember, these are two factors which contribute greatly to a person’s health deteriorating,” complained Naidoo. It is eight years since he stopped smoking and he said he knows what tobacco addiction feels like.
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