The sale of tobacco products in South Africa is still banned. However, the Fair-trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) is happy with the concession by government to allow its members to manufacture and export tobacco products after it went to court over the ban of tobacco sales in South Africa during the lockdown. Picture: iStock/ Rattankun Thongbun
The association taking the government to court over the tobacco ban has accused it of inflating the number of people who supported the ban and using literature that does not show the link between cigarette smoking and the Covid-19 coronavirus.
The supplementary affidavit submitted by the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) was in response to a 4 000-page submission by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, explaining the rationale for the ban.
Dlamini-Zuma’s affidavit mentioned that there were 2 000 complaints against the permission of the sale of cigarettes.
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