Parliament’s health portfolio committee is to proceed with the processing of the controversial Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill.
The decision taken at a committee meeting Friday.
This is despite concerns by business and labour that the health department did not consult with the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) on the bill before submitting it to parliament.
The bill, which has been in the making since 2018, proposes to ban smoking and vaping in public spaces, and rules that tobacco products like cigarettes and vapes must be sold in plain-looking packaging. It will also prohibit the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco related products and prescribes that certain health warnings and other information be displayed on the packaging of these products.
Earlier this week, it was unclear whether the bill would need to be referred to Nedlac for review. But committee chair Sibongiseni Dhlomo said he had received the go-ahead from Nedlac's director who indicated Nedlac would like to engage the committee on the bill at a later stage.
Parliament’s legal advisers also gave the committee the green light at a committee meeting Friday. Legal adviser Sueanne Isaac said in view of the department's assurances given to the committee this week, she believed that it had complied with the Nedlac Act. Nedlac could also consider the bill on its own initiative and the committee could also raise issues with Nedlac during its processing of the bill.
Cosatu’s parliamentary co-ordinator, Matthew Parks, expressed concern about the committee's decision, adding that she believed that business would challenge the bill in court for failing to abide by the Nedlac Act.
Cosatu supported the bill as progressive he said but stressed that the federation and Nedlac itself had repeatedly asked for the bill to be sent to Nedlac for deliberation. He criticised the health department's “lackadaisical approach” to consulting with Nedlac.
Nedlac is a consensus-seeking body that includes representatives of business, government and labour. The Nedlac Act says the body must consider policies and legislation with socioeconomic implications and submit a report to parliament on draft bills before MPs begin their deliberations.
On Monday, Business Unity SA (Busa) sent a letter to the committee asking it to instruct the health department to send the bill back to Nedlac for “a comprehensive review”.
The department’s failure to honour its commitments to bring the bill to Nedlac contravened legal requirements and eroded trust in the legislative process, Busa’s executive director for fiscal and economic policy, Lunga Maloyi, said in the letter.
Maloyi said on Friday that Busa had also written to Nedlac and was awaiting the outcome of the two communications. He said it was premature to speculate as to whether business would take the matter to court.
On Wednesday Jeanette Hunter, the health department’s deputy director-general for primary healthcare, assured the committee that the department had met the requirements of the Nedlac Act.
The department had consulted Nedlac twice on the bill, she said. It first presented the bill to Nedlac in a virtual meeting on October 20 2021, when the chair had allowed all participants to ask questions and make comments, she said.
“The business representatives did not ask any questions but instead requested the formation of a task team to discuss amendments to the bill clause by clause. It was our expectation that Nedlac would do this and submit their comments,” Hunter added.
The health department met Nedlac again on July 28 2022, facilitated by the department of trade, industry and competition, Hunter said. At that meeting Nedlac again requested the formation of a task team, and once again the health department’s expectation was that Nedlac would do so and submit its comments, she said.
Parks, however, disagreed with Hunter’s depiction of the department’s interaction with Nedlac. “There have been no meetings between Nedlac and health department. There was one presentation at Nedlac: they came for an hour. We asked them to come back for a chapter-by-chapter engagement. They never came back to us, despite us asking them to do so [repeatedly],” he told Business Day.
Isaac said the public hearings held by the committee in the previous parliament were legally valid. Public hearings on the bill started in August 2023 and people in seven of the nine provinces had had a chance to air their views. The meetings paused ahead of the election so that public hearings in KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape still have to be held.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.