SCA grants FITA leave to appeal tobacco sales ban

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein has granted Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) leave to appeal the ban of selling tobacco products.

FITA has approached the SCA in a bid to overturn the Pretoria High Court ruling in favour of government’s decision to prohibit the selling of cigarettes as the country battle COVID-19. FITA says government showed desperation on the matter and lacked scientific evidence.

The association argues that the ban falls short of meeting the legal requirements of rationality and necessity and constitutes a case of executive overreach.

In the video below, FITA appeals ban on sale of tobacco products:

[embedded content]

The ban, FITA says, affects the health and welfare of more than 11 million smokers in the country and that it continues to have far-reaching traumatic effects on the smokers.

It argues that the ban has already had an enormous commercial impact on tobacco manufacturers and retailers. Accordingly, this has resulted in the illicit trade of cigarettes, which led to significant losses of tax revenue.