South Africa: Informal traders join call for unbanning of cigarette sales

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:48 pm

The South African Informal Traders Alliance (Saita) and a tobacconist have warned that the ban on the sale of cigarettes is fuelling illicit trade.

The organisations are calling on the government to “urgently” lift the ban on the sale of tobacco. “We can see the ban is not stopping people from smoking, but instead of buying cigarettes from their usual informal traders, they are buying illicit products from criminals.

In other words, our government is taking food from the mouths of hard-working traders and giving it to crooks,” said Rosheda Muller, Saita’s president.

Saita represents informal traders, hawkers, spaza shop owners and home-based operators in all provinces. “The nature of our market is that many of our members sell single cigarettes, usually costing about R1 for a single.

Every box sold by the illicit trade is another R20 our members are losing out on – and right now, even R20 can make a difference to the lives of our members, who are living hand to mouth,” said Muller.

“There is also clear evidence that our members are losing business and income from the ban. Our members are losing their faith and trust in the government,” said Muller.

Warren Dreyer of JJ Cale Tobacconists said the future of his stores and that of his staff hung in the balance as a result of the ban on the sale of cigarettes.

Dreyer owns 15 specialist tobacco stores across the country and employs 121 staff.

“On the other end of the scale, the lockdown has been profoundly negative for legal small businesses that employ large numbers of people, pay their taxes and comply with the laws of the country.

“Government has enabled this shift – and it is deeply worrying, on every level.

“We urgently call on government to listen to the people whom they serve, but also to their own ministerial advisors and experts, who are calling for a sensible lifting of the ban.

“We are the only country in the world that has banned the sale of tobacco products, and it is causing irreparable harm to legal business and the millions of employees that they sustain,” said Dreyer.

(Timeslive)