No legal smokes – yet – but plenty of fire in court

Advocate Barry Edwards, left, and senior counsel Arnold Subel, for the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association, at the High Court in Pretoria, 10 June 2020. Picture: Gallo Images

Speaking outside the High Court in Pretoria, where Fita’s challenge to the ban was heard yesterday, the association’s chair, Sinenhlanhla Mnguni, said he was happy with how proceedings had unfolded. Government refused to provide the minutes but agreed to furnish Fita and the court with a record of decision, which it did last week. Fita now wants an order declaring that sales are lawful.

Subel argued that there had been “steely determination” on the part of government to keep the ban in place, “And for what purpose? To alleviate the strain on health services. But then we have to find that there’s a rational link between the two,” he went on. “Fita argues that the impugned regulations are not necessary … We submit that the test of absolute necessity does not apply,” he said. “It cannot be required that the minister show proof that unless the measure in question is imposed, the health system will definitely collapse …

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