Police Minister Bheki Cele says those caught buying or selling cigarettes will be prosecuted and so have a criminal record.
, or minister of police, it’s a full bench of a senior court in the Republic of SA. So, if people [buy or sell cigarettes], that is to commit a crime, so there must be a criminal record. You did it knowing full well that you are not supposed to,” said Cele.“It is on that score that the department of justice has come to the police to discuss how we look at those [minor infringements], but there are some who have been found working with organised cartels, transporting cigarettes ...
Lobby group the Fair Trade and Independent Tobacco Association had approached the courts arguing that SA’s status as one of only two countries in the world to impose such a ban undermined its rationality.