Cape Town – The government has taken British American Tobacco South Africa to task for accusing it of being responsible for the lengthy delay in the hearing of its "urgent" challenge to the ban on the sales of tobacco products during level 3.
Batsa described the decision, which followed presentations by the State to Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe, as troubling. It dismissed the main contention by the tobacco association that she had acted irrationally in prohibiting the sale of cigarettes in regulations governing the state of disaster declared in response to the Covid-19 health crisis, terming the ban properly considered.
"The requirement of rationality is thus not a particularly stringent test and should also not be conflated with the requirement of reasonableness, even in those cases in which a law or the exercise of a public power infringes a fundamental right." In disagreement, the court found though a survey relied upon by the ministry indicated that the vast majority of smokers had still obtained cigarettes despite the three-month-old ban, it suggested that some had given up.
It also rejected the argument that the ban was cruel towards smokers, and said the fact that tobacco was addictive did not render it an essential good.