The protest initiated by Smokers Unite SA kicks off at 09:00 am at varied destinations countrywide listed on the organisation’s website. These include Port Elizabeth, the East Rand, Nelspruit, Pretoria and Durban, amongst other cities and points. The organisers of the initiative, Trevor Terblanche and Linda Barnard, are requesting support for the protest on Saturday aimed at demonstrating smokers’ dissatisfaction at the continued ban. Participants are requested to come donned in orange masks and display orange mask, flags, posters and stickers.

“Our voices have been silenced for too long. Let's rise up and be heard” reads their statement on the Smokers Unite SA website.

The protest comes on the back of legal challenges pertaining to the ban. Most recently smokers were dealt a blow as the North Gauteng High Court dismissed the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association’s (Fita’s) leave to appeal its ruling to uphold the country’s tobacco ban. Fita will now approach the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) for leave to appeal the ruling.

In the ruling handed down on 26 June, the Pretoria High Court said that Fita’s argument that tobacco products be considered ‘necessary’ due to the negative effects the ban was having on those dependent on the substance couldn’t be justified. The court also noted that Fita’s case ignored the ban was introduced in the midst of a global pandemic that was claiming lives.

On the other end of the argument, Warren Dreyer of JJ Cale Tobacconists, who owns 15 specialist tobacconists across the country, and employs 121 staff says the country’s ban on cigarette sales is creating a “boom for the illegal cigarette market”. He says this will ultimately lead to widespread job losses. A recent study conducted by Professor Corné van Walbeek from the University of Cape Town, found that 90 percent of smokers are purchasing cigarettes illegally as indicated by Dreyer. They are simply paying more than they normally would.


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