South Africa: Media Alert - Health Committee to Hold Public Hearings On Tobacco Bill in Free State and Western Cape

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Parliament, Wednesday, 29 January 2025 - The Portfolio Committee on Health will over the coming weekend hold final public hearings on the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill (B33-2022) in Free State and Western Cape.

While conducting provincial public hearings, for various reasons the 6th Parliament committee was only able to conduct two hearings in both Free State and Western Cape. "In order to ensure that there is parity and that all provinces hold three public hearings, the 7th Parliament committee resolved that it would hold single hearings in the two provinces. This is in line with the obligation to hold meaningful public participation and afford all South Africans the opportunity to contribute to the Bill," said Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, the Chairperson of the committee.

The public hearings form part of Parliament's constitutionally mandated public participation process to consult citizens in the law-making process. By holding these two hearings, the committee is keeping true to its commitment to create a platform for fair and meaningful public participation processes.

The Bill seeks to strengthen public health protection measures, align South African tobacco control law with the World Health Organisation Framework Convention and repeal the Tobacco Control Act of 1993.

The proposed legislative and policy changes seek to introduce the following:

(a) indoor public places and certain outdoor areas will be designated 100 per cent smoke-free;

(b) a ban on the sale of cigarettes through vending machines;

(c) plain packaging with graphic health warnings and pictorials;

(d) a ban on display at point of sale, and

(e) the regulation and control of electronic nicotine delivery systems and non-nicotine delivery systems.

Towards the end of 2024, the committee conducted public hearings in the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal where it received mixed views on the Bill. In both provinces the committee received varying inputs from members of the public and organisations, with some welcoming the Bill because it is a necessary intervention in the context of increasing consumption of tobacco and electronic delivery systems products. Those supporting the Bill argued that public healthcare should supersede selfish profit-making by the tobacco industry. Also, supporters of the Bill argued that there was a need to curb access to tobacco products for vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women and the youth, which the Bill provides.

Those against the Bill cautioned that the Bill would be detrimental to job prospects provided by the industry and would open the market for illicit cigarette trade, which would not benefit the country's tax revenue base. Also, dissenters argued that the intention to introduce plain packaging has the potential to infringe on trademark laws of registered producers of tobacco products, which, according to them, is undesirable. Representatives of the electronic delivery systems industry also called for differentiation between vapes and tobacco products, which they argued is conflated by the Bill.

The committee has assured South Africans that its current processes are designed to ensure that it listens to all contributions made and that all submissions are important in the legislative-making process. "We encourage the people of Free State and Western Cape to come out in their numbers to make inputs on the Bill and engender meaningful public participation, which is the bedrock of South Africa's democratic constitutionalism," Dr Dhlomo said.

The details of the public hearings in the FS and Western Cape are as follows:

DATE

DISTRICT/ LOCAL MUNICIPALITY

Venue

TIME

Friday, 31st January 2025

Kopanong Local Municipality

Trompsburg Town Hall)

(Trompsburg)

10:00 - 15:00

Sunday, 2nd February 2025

George Local Municipality

Conville Community Hall

(George)

10:00 - 15:00

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