The Tobacco Bill: A critical step towards reducing annual deaths from smoking

Cosatu presented its submission in support of the Tobacco and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health this week.

This is a critical Bill to reduce the number of lives lost every year to lung cancer and tuberculosis, as well as to safeguard the legal tobacco industry, its value chain and jobs from the explosion of the illicit tobacco trade.

Cosatu has championed this long overdue Bill as a critical tool in the campaign to reduce smoking and the exposure of non-smokers and young people to smoking.  The Federation has engaged extensively on this progressive Bill at Nedlac and now in Parliament. 

Whilst we are disappointed it took so many years to reach Parliament, we are pleased it is finally there.  It will take some time still to come into law and is likely to receive real push back from certain quarters with vested interests in the tobacco trade, legal and illegal.

Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer with an estimated 30 000 deaths annually in South Africa and a major contributor to tuberculosis.  The resultant costs for healthcare are more than R1 billion annually and estimates of up to 0.9% lost in economic productivity.

The Bill provides many progressive provisions building upon existing pioneering legislation set in place under President Nelson Mandela’s administration in 1995.  

These include strengthening restrictions on smoking at work.  This is important as often despite smoking rooms or spaces existing, workplaces lack sufficient air filter systems to protect workers who do not smoke.

Smokers will be required to smoke at a distance from entrances to workplaces and public buildings as all too often this has been treated as an option with the rights of non-smokers invariably sacrificed.

Smoking will not be allowed in front of children in any place, public or private.  Whilst this will be hard to enforce, especially in private homes and cars, it is necessary to send a signal to society that the rights of children must be protected.  

Laws are not only about rules and penalties, but also about guiding society on what types of behaviour are acceptable and which are not and to begin a journey of changing the culture of the nation for the better.

As part of making smoking less attractive, especially for still impressionable and curious youth, the Bill introduces provisions restricting advertising and the display of tobacco products.  Tobacco and related products will no longer be advertised in shops or displayed.  Customers will need to ask the store staff for the specific products behind the counters.

Following international examples in Australia, tobacco related products will be sold in plain packaging to reduce the glamour and appeal to young consumers.

Packaging will be required to display graphic health warnings on tobacco and related products, e.g. the harmful effects and photos of what lung cancer does.

Sales will no longer be in places where the age of the buyer cannot be confirmed.  Thus sales online and on vending machines will be prohibited.  Sales will not be allowed next to schools and similar educational institutions.

The Bill provides a rationale framework for the emerging vaping industry.

South Africa has made major strides since 1994 under government led by the African National Congress, in reducing the number of smokers, in particular young people. 

The tightening of legislation in 1995 has been key to this progress.  Many would remember the hysteria by some in the tobacco and hospitality sectors against those precedent setting changes.  Yet today, society is better off with thousands of lives saved.

This progress and the sin tax regime underpinning it as well as the legally compliant trade is now under severe threat due to the explosion of the illicit trade in cigarettes, which retail on average at 25% of the price of legally sold products and is estimated to now occupy 70% of the market.  This will not only collapse the law-abiding industry and its jobs but also the sin tax regime that has played a key role in discouraging young people from smoking.  

Over R30 billion in tax revenue is believed to be lost annually.  This is revenue due to the state that could have helped plug gaping financial shortfalls facing public healthcare, including the hiring of badly needed doctors, nurses and paramedics.

Government efforts to tackle illicit trade in tobacco are painfully inadequate at best.  It is beyond disappointing that the Department of Health has failed to exploit this Bill to further empower the state, in particular the South African Revenue Service and law enforcement to tackle this criminal pandemic by requiring the tracking and tracing of tobacco and related products. 

It is critical that the Portfolio Committee uses this opportunity to insert bold provisions to ensure that the state is not only empowered but also compelled to tackle these highly sophisticated and dangerous criminal syndicates. 

Strengthening the Bill is critical, as is ensuring that officials of SA Revenue Service, the South African Police Service, Hawks and State Security are trained and equipped to win this war.  

Parliament’s Finance, Health, Police and Intelligence Committees should hold regular oversight hearings with these key state organs to hold them accountable for their efforts to crack down on illicit trade crisis.  

This is an industry with deep pockets and one that has not been shy to purchase dodgy politicians.  This is not a war for the faint-hearted or one that can be won through feelings.  It requires a well-resourced and determined state.  

There is space for a legally compliant industry and its jobs, from the farms to plants and retail sector.  Equally there is a pressing need to reduce the number of smokers, especially young people.  Urgency is required to ensure the state collects due taxes needed to fund the public services society and the economy depend upon.  This Bill provides an important tool to do this, but it requires capacitating the state to tackle the explosion in the illicit trade.

Cosatu General Secretary Solly Phetoe

** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL

BUSINESS REPORT