A ban on the sale of cigarettes in South Africa, introduced in March with reference to the corona pandemic, has not been lifted, a court has ruled.
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The Supreme Court of South Africa on Friday dismissed a complaint from the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association, which represents a number of smaller tobacco manufacturers in the country.
The association argued that cigarettes must be seen as a necessity of life as tobacco is addictive, but this argument did not win the hearing of the judges.
Tobacco manufacturers and others have called for the government’s scientific basis to ban the sale of cigarettes, but have only responded that the ban has been introduced for the sake of public health.
International tobacco giant British American Tobacco has also gone to court in South Africa to lift the ban, but the outcome is not yet clear.
South Africa lifted the ban on the sale of alcohol on June 1, which has made many smokers even more furious that the ban on cigarette sales is being maintained.
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