Tobacco and alcohol ban must be lifted yesterday

3 August 2020

Please click here for a soundbite by Dean Macpherson MP.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes and agrees with comments by SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) President, Dr Glenda Gray and Professor Charles Parry, Director of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs Research Unit at the SAMRC , that South Africa should be more "nimble" in its approach to the banning of alcohol.

In a polite way, Dr Gray is saying that there is no longer any use for the ban and that we must "look at livelihoods" as she put it.

Dr Gray has further stated that there has not been the excessive pressure on hospitals which is what we told the second ban was needed to avoid.

For a Government that has proudly proclaimed that it is "led by science", throughout this national lockdown, President Ramaphosa has seemingly gone out of his way to prove the very opposite.

From allowing taxis to load up to 100%, to closing down schools, science has been the very last thing the government has worried about. However, what they have obsessed about it capitulating to powerful unions, lobby groups and internal ANC factional forces.

This second ban on alcohol has had terrible consequences for farmers, farm workers and down-stream businesses in the industry. People are losing everything because this government is not being led by science.

The ban on tobacco products has only led to cigarette smugglers becoming obscenely rich which criminalising South Africans for buying cigarettes.

It has also had a devastating effect on our economy and national revenue which has lost billions of Rands in taxes and duties, which we will never be able to recover.

The DA believes that the time for these illogical and unscientific bans to continue must come to an end immediately. President Ramaphosa must put his foot down, show leadership and unban alcohol and tobacco without further delay.

Issued by Dean Macpherson, DA Shadow Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, 3 August 2020