The government lost taxes and enabled an illicit market, yet only 8% of smokers quit during the sales ban – and half of those who stopped smoking indicated they started again when the ban was lifted.
The legal multinationals’ market share of the sale of cigarettes went from 70% (pre-ban) to 33% (in ban) to 50% (post-ban), a survey shows.
The prohibition did not prevent smoking either: 85% of smokers kept smoking during the cigarette ban, only 8% quit and half of those who stopped smoking indicated they started smoking again once the ban was lifted.
This data is provided in the latest National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile survey (Nids-Cram).
Tobacco sales were prohibited between March 25 and August 17 as part of the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
There were about 6.7 million adult smokers in SA before the start of the lockdown, the report estimates.
TimesLive – Feb 18, 2021.
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