DA LEADER John Steenhuisen wants President Cyril Ramaphosa to take Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to task for allegedly misleading the public about the tobacco ban.
He said when Dlamini-Zuma reversed government’s decision to allow the sale of cigarettes, she said it was based on 2 000 public submissions supporting the ban.
Steenhuisen said on court papers by the state attorney in a matter brought by the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association, only about 400 submissions were received.
“What you want at this time is unambiguous and clear communication. The last thing we need is the element of distrust developing when ministers go on television and deliberately misled the public.”
He said he wanted the president to take steps if Dlamini-Zuma misled Mzansi.
Steenhuisen was speaking yesterday during a virtual address about school readiness in the Western Cape. He said the party also lodged a complaint with Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests, claiming Dlamini-Zuma lied to justify the ban on sales of tobacco products.
He also lashed out at government for giving SAA a R21 billion bailout to help repay debt and resume operations after the lifting of Covid-19 travel bans, saying that money could have been used to improve healthcare and education.
He said the DA was prepared to go to court to fight for hairdressers, nail technicians and small businesses, who could lose their jobs as they were unable to operate under level three of lockdown.
Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schafer said 90% of their schools opened on Monday.
She said while other provinces fought over tenders for personal protection equipment, her department spent R280 million to buy the equipment to distribute to schools. “We put an amount of effort to produce a circular sent to schools about how they must deal with screening for temperature, how to use masks and curriculum,” she said.
Schafer said she understood the fears of parents.
“We’re concerned for our teachers and pupils.”
