Ban about zealot’s passion, not logic

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is conducting a “Stalingrad” legal defence of her cigarette ban in the same way her former husband, Jacob Zuma, is fighting his corruption charges.

In his case, he is clearly trying to keep himself out of jail. However, it is less obvious what the motives of the minister are. In actions costing taxpayers millions, Dlamini-Zuma is in court trying to defend what is the least defensible part of the entire lockdown regulations.

It has already been shown, clearly, that while cigarettes and tobacco products do have negative impacts on health, they neither make the coronavirus more infectious, nor do they make it more deadly. And as it emerged in court proceedings around the ban yesterday, Dlamini-Zuma was well aware that the ban would not stop smoking, but would merely push the trade underground, benefitting the various criminal organisations, which are involved in selling illegally.

Being aware of that would also, obviously, make Dlamini-Zuma conscious of the fact that the country’s Treasury would be deprived of billions of rands in unpaid excise duty on the cigarettes.

There have been claims that Dlamini-Zuma is close to those involved in the illegal cigarette trade, although no evidence has emerged of this … so, at this stage, it seems she is acting from some motive other than her own enrichment.

Enrichment is the motive of many of her ANC comrades in looting the Covid-19 emergency funds and the rest of the government’s coffers – and in a way that is at least understandable. It’s worrying, though, if a minister like Dlamini-Zuma, who has been a lifelong passionate campaigner against smoking, may be using the crisis to remake our one society in her image.

Thieves and looters can at least be locked up. But an ideological zealot and her oversize ego is a far more dangerous proposition.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.