OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 2.30pm.
PARLIAMENT on Friday afternoon approved Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma’s widely contested Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill, which bars all tobacco advertising and smoking in public places. The strict anti-smoking legislation pushes South Africa into the ranks of the world’s most smoker-unfriendly countries.
Parliament’s ratification of the bill brings to an end months of vehement opposition by the tobacco industry, media and advertising groups, which culminated in a debate over the bill during public hearings in Parliament this week.
In terms of the bill, local governments have the mandate to draft anti-smoking legislation banning smoking in most enclosed places. The most vehement opposition to the bill, however, came with the clause that bans all tobacco advertising and sponsorship.
The portfolio committee, however, approved the bill with only minor amendments, including one that will allow people to wear clothing with tobacco logos without fear of prosecution under the advertising clause.
The bill will be debated in the National Assembly on November 5, and will then require only the signature of President Nelson Mandela to become law.
Zuma’a battle may not be over yet, however, as the bill’s opponents have threatened to challenge the legislation in court on the basis that it is unconstitutional.