Durban -
Gwala said that one of the vehicles involved in the collision was transporting the contraband, which"caught fire", resulting in the occupants being burned to death.“The estimated street value of the dagga and cigarettes is R500,000. A case of culpable homicide is being investigated by Newark SAPS,” she said.The South African government banned the sale of tobacco in late March, at the start of the country's Covid-19 lockdown.
But the ban has been extensively criticised for contributing to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs along the value chain, and for strengthening the trade in illicit cigarettes, which are not taxed, thereby costing the fiscus billions in tax revenue. The study:"Lighting up the illicit market: Smokers' responses to the cigarette sales ban in South Africa" was based on a survey of 16,000 participants.