Ramaphosa on Thursday announced the easing of the lockdown from Level 5 to Level 4, which included the sale of cigarettes, which had been banned since the lockdown started at midnight on Thursday, March 26.

“As President Ramaphosa announced that South Africa will be moving into Level 4 of the lockdown, the African Transformation Movement welcomes the phased reopening of the economy and the relief package as announced on Tuesday by the president,” the party said.

The segmentation of economic activity by economic priority will assist in the management of the bleeding economy and the further rebuilding of new economies to counter the effect of the coronavirus lockdown completely, the party said, adding that if the sale of cigarettes continues, then the sin tax on cigarettes must be hiked. 

“We reject the selling of cigarettes due to respiratory ailment and nature of the virus. The continued sale of cigarettes may give us unforeseeable complications in the treatment of this virus. As such, if the sale of cigarettes continues, sin tax on cigarettes must be hiked,” it said.

There have been calls for the lifting of the cigarettes ban from thousands of South Africans across the country. A petition calling on Ramaphosa to reverse a ban on the sale of cigarettes garnered thousands of signatures in less than 24 hours since it was started. 

The petition was launched by Bev Maclean on the Change.org platform almost two weeks after the announcement of the national lockdown aimed at fighting the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

According to an article published by the SABC on April 4, the Western Cape government reinstated the ban on the sale of cigarettes during the lockdown period, following confusion about the ban among people in the province.

The confusion was caused after Western Cape Premier Alan Winde eased the ban, saying cigarettes could be bought together with essential goods. Winde said he had been in contact with Ramaphosa about concerns on the interpretation of the regulations related to essential goods following the national lockdown.

Police Minister Bheki Cele accused Winde of failing to explain why he considered cigarettes essential goods.

African News Agency