FAWU notes the risky conditions under which its members have found themselves in and the threat in the tobacco industry following challenges emanating from COVID-19 and the remaining ban on tobacco sales.
FAWU remains firm in its position to respect those decisions made in order to save the lives of people in South Africa including FAWU members in all tobacco companies. We reject replacement of the entire industry which will result in most South Africans being exposed to the same health risks the country is trying to alleviate, e.g. jobs losses in the rest of the tobacco trade and associated value chain.
FAWU represents the larger part of workers in the tobacco industry, ranging from farms that are providing the raw material to tobacco business and the processing, distribution and the entire value chain.
FAWU reiterates its position that all workers must remain a priority on Health and Safety discussions in workplaces. They must be provided with all necessary PPE, sanitisers, screening and free tests amongst others, including education as to how to best protect themselves in and outside the workplace. This should even include compensation of all workers in the form of COVID-19 allowances as they risk their lives being outside their place of residence.
FAWU has publicly declared a war on illicit trade and dumping of products in South Africa because it impacts negatively on our members’ jobs and causes billions in tax revenue losses. This campaign included illicit trade in tobacco products. The current ban on legal and legitimate cigarettes provides opportunity for the illicit trade of cigarettes to flourish.
FAWU’s position is that the growth of illicit trading does not only contribute to the negative effect to the economy but most importantly might lead to thousands of job losses which will lead to a rise in the unemployment figure in the country.
The President of the country has announced easing of travel on domestic air travel on alert level 3 for work purposes and we can therefore expect to see a higher influx of illegal imported cigarette being sold. This is not new at all. It is going to be even worse since legal tobacco products are banned from sale in the domestic market. The country cannot afford the growing number of criminals to replace a lawful industry.
FAWU does not dispute current discussions regarding health problems associated with cigarettes - in particular those that existed even before COVID-19. It is however important that the reasons that led the government to ban the sale of tobacco are published. This research report should include the relationship between the cigarette health related problems and corona virus but also the extent to which active cases are related to corona virus. We believe this will contribute to spreading valuable knowledge that will assist the country to curb the spread of corona virus.
It is important that research should be done on the relationship between the illicit tobacco trade and its health risks to South Africans since such counterfeit cigarettes are not subjected to certified quality standards for human consumption. This therefore means that illegal cigarettes remains a contributing factor to health-related problems in the country.
Statistics reported by the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele indicates that the illicit trading of liquor and tobacco has risen during lockdown. This confirms that people are currently smoking across the country and are probably becoming comfortable with these illegal products. After the ban has been lifted, they might not even switch back to the genuine/ legal product. It is difficult to arrest them since smoking cigarettes are legal and we are finding ourselves in a situation where the illicit trade is booming and is now threatening legitimate businesses with a high probability of job losses.
The very same reason that led the government to ban the sale of tobacco has unintended consequences whereby people are still getting sick because they are now worse off consuming, non-quality passed products during this lock down period. This then defeats the very same purpose why the government banned tobacco initially.
The growth of the illicit economy, particularly in terms of cigarettes and the adverse impact of billions lost through the unlawful trade should be a quick reminder to the government of FAWU’s outcry about the unlawful trade of money which should have ended up in the fiscus. Government would then be able to direct more funds towards poor communities who sleep without food, conduct important research on the corona virus and implement other necessary government services.
The Commissioner of SARS, Mr. Kieswetter, has also alluded to the fact that the illicit sale of cigarettes has continued despite the ban of these products during the lockdown. This indicates that the country is losing even more billions of rands seeing that illicit traders evade tax. FAWU calls on government to do more to curb the illicit trade of tobacco.
During April 2020, SARS effected several seizures and a list of detentions of various goods including cigarettes. These seizures continue unabated on a daily basis running into billions of Rands that do not flow into the fiscus.
FAWU Calls on the government to:
▪ Issue health reasons related to corona virus from its medical report for relevant stakeholders and the entire nation to be educated on how to handle themselves amid covid-19, with the possibility and intention of relaxing the total ban on tobacco;
▪ To finance an even more stringent multi-discipline (SARS & SAPS) approach to address illegal manufacturing and illicit sale of tobacco;
▪ To secure all ports of entry in the country to arrest illicit traders who smuggle illegal goods in the country;
▪ The Department of Employment and Labour to update the nation on the newly recruited inspectors to monitor the compliance on Health & Safety in workplaces;
▪ Share the number of cases against employers in all permitted sectors of our economy who were found not complying with the regulations including the action taken against them.
We believe that people in South African shall be safer when non-quality tested products are not on sale to the nation. Our peoples’ safety remains a priority during our fight against the spread of corona virus. We hope the government adheres to our calls as we feel it will contribute positively to the health and safety of our workers and the nation as a whole. We also believe that a comprehensive and intensified approach against illicit trade shall assist the country in its capacity to deal with COVID-19.
Kindly contact FAWU General Secretary, Mayoyo Mngomezulu General Secretary 082 440 4039. Released by Media Liaison Officer, Dominique Martin -082 498 5631
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