A South African high court upheld the ban on tobacco sales which started in late March, striking down the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association’s (FITA) claim that tobacco should be declared essential due to its addictive nature.
In its ruling, the high court said, “Simply because a good is addictive it does not necessarily follow that it is therefore necessary for human survival or required for basic human functionality.”
A legal filing by British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI) also challenging the ban was pushed to August from a scheduled date of June 30.
The South African government imposed the ban in what it said was an effort to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.BAT’s Johnny Moloto said the delay is inexplicable and that by the time the case is heard the ban would have been in effect for over four months, during which time billions of illegal cigarettes would have been sold and more than SAR1.4 billion in excise tax would have been lost.