Tobacco industry players and retailers have written an open letter to @PresidencyZA and his Cabinet highlighting the devastation caused by 100 days of the tobacco ban and urging #TheBanMustFall 1/7
#LockdownSA @DlaminiZuma
#LockdownSA @DlaminiZuma
"South Africa has been bleeding while criminals in the illegal trade have reaped the rewards. Whole communities have been torn apart as the ban has extinguished livelihoods that sustain thousands of families across the nation." 2/7
“Pain has echoed from the tobacco fields of Limpopo to the spaza shops of Soweto, Umlazi and the Cape Flats. Factory workers, truck drivers and store staff are being denied the ability to put bread on the table, shoes on the feet of their children and a roof over their heads.”3/7
“11 million previously law-abiding smokers have been turned into criminals. Our national spirit of ubuntu has been fractured. At a time of need South Africans, young and old, are being told hard work, paying tax and contributing to the nation does not pay. But crime does." 4/7
“Money that is meant to help build a better nation for all has instead filled the pockets of these billionaire criminals in the illegal trade. Their corrupt enterprises have thrived beyond their wildest dreams while honest, hard-working citizens have had their hopes crushed.” 5/7
"It's been 100 days, but SA – the only major nation in the world with a tobacco and vaping ban – cannot afford for this to last a single day longer. The national purse has been denied R3.5 BILLION in excise taxes already. At a time when every last cent is desperately needed." 6/7
"We humbly request that you put an end to this painful prohibition. Let South Africans do the right thing for their families and the country. #TheBanMustFall."
@Saai_org @BATPress @My_SPAR @FreshstopSA @Twisp_SA @CTPPrinters @TTASouthAfrica @BTFA_ZA 7/7
@Saai_org @BATPress @My_SPAR @FreshstopSA @Twisp_SA @CTPPrinters @TTASouthAfrica @BTFA_ZA 7/7
