IN PICS: As smokers, boozers flood outlets, Fita notes possible price hike

With most tobacco and alcohol prices remaining relatively the same as before the lockdown – depending on the store’s markup, consumers have flocked to outlets following government’s announcement that both booze and tobacco would make a return to outlets today.

Both tobacco and alcohol sales were prohibited since the country went into lockdown in March. Although alcohol made a brief return, government reintroduced the ban after numbers of patients in hospitals surged, impacting the health sector’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under Level 2 of the lockdown restrictions, the sale of alcohol by licenced outlets is permitted from 9am to 5pm, from Mondays to Thursdays.

Although Tuesday kicked off to a bustling start with shoppers flocking to outlets to restock their bars with alcohol, reports of some outlets selling cigarette packets at inflated prices have caught the eye of the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) with its chairperson, Sinenhlahla Mnguni, confirming they were looking into it.

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