Lobbyists Implore South African Government To Lift Booze, Cigarette Ban

Lobby groups which include Democratic Alliance’s (DA) shadow Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Dean Macpherson, British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) and Restaurants Association of South Africa (RASA) have implored the South African Government to lift the ban on alcohol and cigarettes because it has adverse effects on the economy among other reasons.

While making his case for the government to lift the ban, DA’s Macpherson said the ban was no longer necessary and said:

In a polite way, Dr Gray is saying that there is no longer any use for the ban and that we must ‘look at livelihoods’ as she put it.

Dr Gray has further stated that there has not been the excessive pressure on hospitals which is what we were told the second ban was needed to avoid.

For a government that has proudly proclaimed that it is ‘led by science’, throughout this national lockdown, President Ramaphosa has seemingly gone out of his way to prove the very opposite.

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The ban on tobacco products has only led to cigarette smugglers becoming obscenely rich . . . criminalising South Africans for buying cigarettes

However, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the ban before the media and in court by producing journals supporting his stance. The alcohol ban was reintroduced after South African Authorities noted that alcohol-related trauma incidences were increasingly putting pressure on the health care systems in the country.

More: The Herald