Market flooded with illegal cigarettes after lockdown smoke ban

Three months after the controversial ban on tobacco sales was lifted, the local industry is still struggling to compete with the glut of illicit products on the market.

Last week, the Western Cape High Court upheld British American Tobacco SA’s (BAT SA’s) challenge to the ban and declared it to have been unconstitutional and invalid. But it might be too little, too late.

The ban was instituted with the national lockdown back in March and spanned five months before it was finally lifted in August.

BAT SA in a statement at the weekend welcomed the court’s findings but highlighted the devastating impact the ban – and the boom in illicit trade it brought with it – was continuing to have on the local industry, reiterating its call for South Africa to ratify the World Health Organisation (WHO) protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco.

“The five-month ban on tobacco and vapour products sales was ill-considered, unlawful and has worsened the illicit trade in cigarettes and vapour products in the country,” it said in the statement.

And the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) on Monday echoed these sentiments.

FITA launched its own legal challenge to the ban in the North Gauteng High Court earlier this year but was unsuccessful.

Sinenhlanhla Mnguni, who chairs the association, said he and his team were still studying the BAT SA judgment and considering any potential implications it might have for their case.

ALSO READ: FITA welcomes tobacco ruling, bemoans surge in illicit cigarette trade

In the meantime, though, Mnguni also expressed serious concerns with the ongoing proliferation of the illicit trade.

“We’re seeing the effects of an inability to trade for five months now even more so than during the ban,” he said, “We know illicit trade was rife prior to the lockdown. But now it’s even bigger in terms of the participation and privilege those operating in that space are enjoying in the market”.

Mnguni described the growth of illicit trade under the ban as “exponential”.

“With many criminal syndicates who were involved in other criminal activities getting attracted to this practice as a result of the apparent relative ease of the smuggling of cigarettes through our porous borders,” he added.

He pointed to a recent visit by Parliament’s joint standing committee on defence and the portfolio committee on defence and military veterans to three border sites, during which it emerged “lethal threats” were on the rise, with organised crime syndicates apparently “well-equipped with weapons and intelligence”.

ALSO READ: Border blues boost illegal migration and travel

Mnguni said this was “a clear indication” of how lucrative the illicit market had become.

“We had on many occasions warned government that prolonging the irrational cigarette ban would only serve to encourage these criminal elements who have now clearly grown their resources and networks,” he said,

“This of course has a significant impact on the legitimate players in the tobacco industry and those they employ along the value chain as it is virtually impossible to compete with these syndicates who are flooding the South African market with their contraband”.

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