Across South Africa in general, cigarettes were four times easier to access than alcohol – the sale of which is also banned, data from research conducted by the HSRC in April showed.
Four minutes and 28 seconds. That is how long it took a News24 reporter to find cigarettes – meant to be banned under Level 4 lockdown regulations – which were available for purchase at one of many places in South Africa.
News24 hit the streets of two of the country’s major metros, Cape Town and Pretoria, to find out just how easily available tobacco products were during the lockdown. We also spoke to smokers who had found access spots. In Pretoria, News24 drove through the CBD where loose draws were freely available at R5 per cigarette. In Pretoria West, a dealer was selling a brand called Sharp for R70 a packet.
In Cape Town, News24 sought to buy cigarettes at petrol stations – those franchised with the major petrol retail chains. Boxes of cigarettes were then taken from under-the-counter – literally. The cost-per-box ranged from R30 to R45.The price was quoted at R400 for a carton of 10 boxes of 20 cigarettes. The carton was fetched from a storeroom at the back of the shop – and wrapped in newspaper, and placed in a packet, to hide the contents.Fourth, cigarettes were occasionally found in tiny, makeshift stores – typically selling a narrow range of products.
Two other smokers managed to find people who were distributing cigarettes by the carton, and also running bootlegging where alcohol could be bought for a premium price. “The illicit trade and criminal economic activity is a scourge, which undermines not only our revenue collection, but which distorts our local economy and robs South Africans of honest, hard employment opportunities,” Kieswetter said.
The head of external affairs at British American Tobacco Southern Africa , Johnny Moloto, said: “No tobacco products were manufactured and sold by BATSA under the Level 5 lockdown. But the company warned: “Our biggest concern in relation to this is counterfeits produced in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho that are coming into South Africa through the corrupt and porous borders. We have given information to the authorities but they have failed to act.”
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