BATSA disputes this, saying its brands sold in such small quantities during the prohibition that the sales could be attributed to retailers moving stock acquired before the ban.
With companies vying for the loyalty of some eight million smokers in the wake of the ban lifted on Monday at midnight, the attack on FITA is perhaps surprising only for the form it has taken. As late as last year, BATSA argued that rather than focus on the WHO requirements of higher excise duties and tracking, the authorities should clamp down on the illicit trade, which the company quantified as costing the country R7 billion in tax revenue annually.
"Without proper enforcement, higher taxes simply becomes a blunt tool and leads to more illicit trading as some manufacturers undercut higher prices by not paying excise duties." Snyckers likened the proposed scenario to"letting the fox guard the chickens" and pointed out that if it were to come about, BATSA would almost certainly call into doubt the efficacy of measures chosen by FITA's members.
FITA chairman Sinenhlanhla Mnguni said the association was not denying that its members' brands were"in the market during lockdown" but BATSA's broadside was a disingenuous way of distracting from its own foul play.
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