DURBAN - Due to the cigarette and tobacco ban, the South African Government has been facing an increase in the number of court cases which are related to the national lockdown and are challenging the cigarette and tobacco ban.
On Wednesday, the Pretoria High Court will hear an application to appeal the ruling on the cigarette ban. This application has been submitted by the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA). The initial case had been unsuccessful as the Pretoria High Court had dismissed the case, ruling in favour of the government. FITA argued that the court previously made a number of errors regarding the reading of the Disaster Management Act.
In a statement, FITA said: “We’ve just received confirmation from the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria that our application for leave to appeal the ruling of June 26 dismissing our cigarette ban challenge will be heard on Wednesday, July 15.”
One of the other legal challenges was put forth by the British American Tobacco SA (BATSA) and supported by the Japan Tobacco International and other tobacco representing organisations within South Africa, at the Western Cape High Court, was postponed to early August.
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