OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 10.00pm.
A LOBBY of labour, sport and business groups on Thursday threatened to apply for an urgent court order forcing Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma to withdraw the Tobacco Products Control Amendments Bill because they say it is unconstitutional.
The Bill is due to be tabled in Parliament on Monday.
The group will go to court as early as Friday if they get backing from three unions, the Food and Allied Workers Union, the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union, and a smaller union, called the SA Workers’ Union, public relations executive Derrick Dickens said.
Leaders of the three unions said at a meeting against the Bill in Midrand that they support the move, but will need consultation with their members before backing the initiative.
Dickens said the group wants Zuma to redraft the Bill, and to call a conference to discuss the tobacco controversy. Fawu general secretary Mandla Gxanyana said that mass action cannot be ruled out if Zuma does not comply.
The group said the the Bill is unconstitutional because it does not comply with Section 154(2) of the Constitution, which requires proper consultation before proposed legislation is tabled.
Gxanyana said the group will help the government draft an appropriate tobacco control policy. “But the current proposed legislation is neither sensible nor appropriate to South Africa as a developing country,” he said.
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