Long have I lamented about how corporate South Africa kowtowing to the ridiculousness that is the anc. It took zoomer's removal of Nene for it to get its voice. And even then it was controlled and measured. And state-endorsed corruption continued unabated. Without a suitable voice the balance of the economy is left to fend for itself. In fact not only does large corporation South Africa kowtow – it actively breaks down small businesses by foisting on unreasonable demands on small and medium sized businesses to meet the so-called transformation targets thrust upon a pliant economy.
Perhaps this has now changed. British American Tobacco have threatened Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma with a law suit if she does not rescind her very arbitrary ban on the sale of tobacco products, describing it as bizarre and highly irregular, principally because she did not give the tobacco industry, retailers, tobacco consumers and others supporting the lifting of the ban, the opportunity to comment on the proposed reinstatement of the ban. This was grossly unfair and unlawful
That they are correct in their assessment is not brought into question. The minister, who looks like she'd be more comfortable crocheting clothing for her grandchildren than talking to a public that no does not respect her, told us that 2 000 individual submissions received as a reason for this action. This was 2000 out of the 70 000 submissions she received before she made her decision. Reminds me of bolshie bob who told us that there was overwhelming support for his BEE codes.
Of course the chief vibratorist, Jackson Mthembu has defended the decision, stating that Cyril agreed to this. In fact, the Sunday Times reported this morning that
Minister in the presidency Jackson Mthembu has ruled out any possibility of talks with the cigarette industry, saying the cabinet will not back down on its decision to ban the sale of cigarettes. The government is taking a hard line and will not refer the matter to mediation - an option introduced in the lockdown regulations to try to avoid costly court action by aggrieved parties. Mthembu said the tobacco issue was not one that could be resolved through mediation because there was nothing to negotiate. "We are not going to change our approach," he said. "There is no possibility of a midway agreement that accommodates them and us. We believe that it is the right thing to do. I don't see any of us agreeing on the measures the other party has taken.
"We will make our case in court. We believe we have very good reasons."
How could he say anything else? He's a politician, and an anc one as well. They never admit to any wrong. There does seem to be a bit of bravado here, perhaps he is anticipating that it will actually go to court. And the only way that this is going to go court is through the will to litigate by BAT. Perhaps the reader has seen the agenda here. Tito wants this to go to court, Cyril probably also wants it to go to court. If he is not aware that his popularity is plummeting on a minutely basis then he lives under a rock. A court decision absolves him of having to reign in the rogue incompetents in his cabinet. The court does it for him. This is an age old anc tactic. We'll make bad decisions and if they aren't attacked in the courts then they must be the right decisions.
This is a massive step by the private sector. They are loathe to litigate, always worried that they may lose government business or their licenses to operate. BAT have too much to lose (and so does the government - pity that hotfood slaptjips hasn't realised this) and they need to go through with this. At the time of this writing the anti-tobacco ban petition had 485k signatures to lift the ban. How does that measure up to the 2000 NDZ got in a week?
Meanwhile – the investigative press are going back to an article published in the Sunday Times in 2017 about NDZ's cosy relationship with people like Adriano Mazzotti. We know that illicit booze and cigarettes are doing a roaring trade in the country at the moment. Watch this space – there will be much more to come on this relationship.
It's up to you BAT – we have your back.
As a disclaimer – I don't smoke. I have never smoked. I do like a drink though, cigarettes have just never worked for me. I don't like governments behaving like the Nats did in the pe-1995 period.
I suppose Jan van Riebeeck is also responsible for COVID.
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