The organisation expressed their disappointment on the tobacco ban and also called for an inquiry into the links between illicit tobacco traders and high-profile politicians.
The South Africa Tobacco Transformation Alliance called on the government to scrap its decision to ban cigarette sales during Level 3 lockdown.
“As tobacco farmers, producers and manufacturers who are fully compliant with the law and respect proper processes, we are disgusted. This is not what we expected of a government for the people, by the people… that it should turn its back on an entire agricultural sector and give carte-blanche to the bootleggers.”
Sibisi pointed out that the legal tobacco industry was highly regulated and complies with regulations to provide smokers with information on packs about the dangers of smoking.“The irrationality behind both the health and economic reasons for the continued ban of the legal tobacco industry does not make any sense and begs the question: is there a more sinister agenda behind this decision?”
“Consumers need to know why they have risked arrest, paid ridiculously inflated prices, and only had access to inferior products because of government’s ridiculous and deviant attitude to the lockdown and smoking.
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