Call to Fire Dlamini-Zuma After Court Finds South Africa’s Tobacco Ban was Illegal

The Democratic Alliance has not only welcomed the judgement against the tobacco ban imposed in South Africa during Lockdown, but has called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire the person behind the ban, COGTA Minister Dlamini-Zuma.

Yesterday three judges of the Western Cape Division of the High Court found that Regulation 45 of the Disaster Management Act – which gave life to the tobacco ban – was inconsistent with the Constitution.

Dean Macpherson – DA Shadow Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition – said in a statement on Saturday: “Let’s be very clear, this ban was nothing other than Minister Dlamini-Zuma using Covid-19 and the State of Disaster as a cover to push her ideological hatred for tobacco products.

“It is embarrassing that President Ramaphosa and the entire Cabinet were reduced to mere spectators while the Minister played fast and loose with the Constitution during the entire spectacle.”

Macpherson said: “If President Ramaphosa wishes to restore his credibility in the eyes of the public following this devastating judgment against his government and Minister, he should immediately fire Dlamini-Zuma and apologise unreservedly to South Africa. We don’t want ‘collective responsibility’.”

Macpherson said the court’s finding that the ban was inconsistent with the Constitution is a “devastating blow to Government’s ham-fisted handling of the lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic. It should also be a shot across the bow of President Ramaphosa that all future regulations must be in line with the Constitution and freedoms which South Africans enjoy, and have fought so hard to achieve.”

Just in: BAT, JTI and others have won the court case against @DlaminiZuma & @GovernmentZA on the lockdown cigarette ban. Three judges of the Western Cape Division of the High Court have ruled that the ban was inconsistent with the Constitution. pic.twitter.com/tEXkSzLIWD

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) December 11, 2020