Why speak out now, just when it is convenient for the government?
The logo of the World Health Organisation at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Picture: AFP/FABRICE COFFRINI
The World Health Organisation’s attempt to try to give the SA government a get-out-of-jail-free card regarding the fallout from the tobacco ban furore is a perilous overreach and brings into question its independence from politics. Why did it not comment the day the minister of co-operative governance & traditional affairs announced the extension of the ban?
I am in no way impugning the WHO’s intentions; in fact I think it does not deserve the slander it has been inundated with from some quarters. But the moment it encroaches on domestic debates and takes sides it denigrates its standing as the gold standard of empirical advice dispensary. In any case, if the government is, in principle, dead set on the prohibition of substances and goods that increase the likelihood of worsened co-morbidities in relation to Covid-19, then all junk food and salt- and sugar-laden foods should be prohibited, as hypertension and obesity are the worst co-morbidities.
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