British American Tobacco has given Cogta Minister DlaminiZuma until Monday to amend the Disaster Management regulations relating to the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products or face possible court action. Covid19InSA LockdownSALevel4
In a letter drafted by law firm Webber Wentzel, the company says it will go to court if the regulations are not amended by the given date.
On Wednesday, two days before the country moved to a slightly less restrictive level 4 lockdown, Dlamini-Zuma shock millions of smokers when she announced that the ban on the sale of tobacco products would remain in place. This was a direct contradiction of President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement the previous week that alcohol sales would remain banned but cigarettes will be available under the eased level 4 regulations.
"Having been prohibited from selling tobacco products and vaping products from the commencement of the lockdown, our client commenced preparing for the upliftment of the prohibition. In a very short period of time, over 10 000 orders were received from retailers wishing to sell tobacco products. The upliftment of the prohibition was celebrated not only by our client, but by retailers and consumers throughout the country," the letter from Webber Wentzel, which IOL has seen, says.
If the regulations have not been amended by the deadline given by their client, the law firm says BAT will challenge the regulations on the grounds that it: * was included in the Regulations for an ulterior purpose; andOn Thursday, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said that he had been opposed to the retention of the prohibition. Mboweni revealed that the government had already lost R1.
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