The event was originally only meant to be for Cape Town.
“We have postponed the March to Lift the Ban against Tobacco Products, to 2 June 2020,” the group advocating for the lifting of the ban on tobacco products said on their Facebook page.
“We are postponing the event for an even bigger impact.”
Locally the march was set to take place in front of the Emfuleni municipality building.
The group’s founder Duncan Napier said the march, which was initially planned for Tuesday has been postponed to next Tuesday June 2.
“We have contacted some political parties to gain their support, as well as being in contact with the press and media! In doing so, this process takes some time, and as a result we have had to postpone the march. If we don’t hear from the parties, we will still proceed with our March!”
The group said the ban on cigarette sales is failing in what it set out to do – and rather than stopping smokers from smoking, it could be setting up an illicit market for survival well beyond the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the group more people are sharing cigarettes as the price has skyrocketed. People also travel far and wide to purchase cigarettes, which also continue to expose the public to this virus.
“Further to the above, NO proof has been submitted the reasoning. How many people that has died were smokers! How many of the infected public are smokers?
Is Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma pushing for this ban, because a close relative owns a cigarette manufacturing company, and is now benefiting from the black market sales?”
The group says it will not back down until this ban has been lifted. “We have asked, begged and pleaded, and it has fallen on deaf ears. We will now stand up for our rights!!!”
