Illegal cigarettes are on sale in two out of five shops, according to research by Ipsos‚ commissioned by British American Tobacco (BAT).
The cheapest pack of 20 cost just R6‚ less than a third of the minimum tax rate on a legal pack.
Ipsos found that SA’s illicit tobacco trade had surged to unprecedented levels as manufacturers flooded shops with untaxed cigarettes.
GM of BAT, Johnny Moloto, said the research was “damning proof that authorities have failed to bring SA’s colossal criminal market in cigarettes under control”.
“Tax-evading manufacturers who exploited last year’s lockdown ban are now running rampant and costing South Africans huge sums of money at a time when every cent is a lifesaver. It is nothing short of a national emergency that demands a full-scale inquiry into the whole industry.”
The survey found that the number of shops selling illegal cigarettes in the Eastern Cape more than doubled in just four months since the last time results were released.
In KwaZulu-Natal the rate shot up by a third‚ while two out of three shops in the Free State‚ Gauteng and the Western Cape sold illegal cigarettes.
According to the research‚ illegal cigarettes were on sale in nearly half of all shops nationwide and five times as many outlets on petrol forecourts now sold illegal cigarettes since the last time results were released.
“The bulk of the illicit tobacco problem in SA clearly has local origins‚ as the report demonstrates. It demands justice and that necessitates an immediate commission of inquiry into the tobacco market in SA‚” Moloto said.
“The government should finally ratify the WHO Illicit Trade Protocol to fight illicit trade. SA must introduce a comprehensive track-and-trace system to stamp out this brazen criminality once and for all.”