Ban on cigarettes and liquor costs state billions in lost taxes
Bootlegging has hit the suburbs as South Africans turn to technology, WhatsApp groups and bartering to keep themselves supplied with their favourite tipple while liquor stores are closed for the lockdown.
And an industry built on another banned product, tobacco, says the ban is keeping millions out of the government’s pockets.
The Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association, which represents independent tobacco manufacturers, said the taxman would lose about R1bn in excise revenue this month from the ban of a legally made product.
British American Tobacco, which controls the bulk of SA’s cigarette market, said it contributed R13bn in taxes in 2019. “The cigarette ban will have unintentional consequences, including forcing 11-million smokers to search for outlets willing to defy the ban,” the company said.
Asked about arrests and seizures, police spokesperson Brig Vish Naidoo said: “A decision was taken not to provide blow-by-blow accounts of incidents and police actions.”
Much of the scouting for booze and cigarettes takes place through WhatsApp groups under hashtags such as #ImAskingForSomeoneElse or #HelpingAFriendInNeed.