President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the whole country moves to Level 3 of the lockdown next week, but did not announce anything to do with lifting the ban on cigarette sales as he has with alcohol.
Ministers Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of COgTA and Zweli Mkhize of Health told members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Tuesday that the decision not to allow cigarettes was the correct thing.
Mkhize says there is question about the health risks posed by smoking.
However, he didn’t expound much regarding the issue surrounding government allowing alcohol sales during the next level 3.
“If people want to debate the issue from a point of view of saying they’ve got businesses and so on, that’s a different matter. So, in this case, there is no need for any peer review,” Mkhize said.