Business and labour push for tobacco bill to go back to Nedlac

Business Unity SA (Busa) has called on the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) to revive its efforts to halt parliament’s work on tough new antitobacco laws, saying the legislation still needs a thorough review by the organisation.

Its concerns echo those previously expressed by SA’s biggest trade union federation, Cosatu, which warned last year that a lack of consultation could expose the government to legal challenges.

At issue is the extent to which the health department engaged with Nedlac before submitting the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery System Control Bill to parliament in 2023. MPs did not finish their work on the bill before parliament rose ahead of the May general election. The legislation is now back before the portfolio committee on health.

“The parliamentary process should be halted,” Nedlac’s business convener, Kaizer Moyane, said on Wednesday. “To run the process without the views of the social partners would be robbing parliament of the richness of their [expertise].”

The health department had made only one presentation to Nedlac on the bill before it was tabled in parliament, and had rebuffed its request for a thorough, line-by-line engagement on the legislation, said Moyane.

Earlier this week, Moyane wrote to Nedlac executive director Lisa Seftel on behalf of Busa, SA’s biggest umbrella body for organised business, calling for a review of the bill.

“The importance of Nedlac’s involvement in the bill cannot be overstated. The bill, if passed in its current form, will have significant socioeconomic effects on SA. It will transform the law on tobacco products and introduce new legislation on electronic delivery systems. Such far-reaching changes fall squarely within Nedlac’s mandate,” he said.

Regulates e-cigarettes

Nedlac is a consensus-seeking body that includes representatives of business, the government and labour. Its work is governed by the Nedlac Act, which requires it to consider policies and legislation with socioeconomic implications and to report to parliament on draft bills before MPs begin their deliberations.

The bill tightens restrictions on smoking in public places, introduces plain packaging and picture warnings, bans vending machine sales, prohibits point-of-sale advertising and, for the first time, regulates e-cigarettes and other new-generation products in much the same way as tobacco.

It also contains provisions to enable the health minister to limit or prohibit flavours, which public health advocates say are a tool used by the industry to attract younger customers.

Seftel said Nedlac was committed to raising the matter again with parliament. It previously wrote to the leader of government business in parliament, the speaker and the chair of the portfolio committee on health asking that the bill be reviewed by Nedlac before it was considered by MPs, but without success, she said.

“The health department thinks that all that is necessary is to present [to Nedlac]. The view of the Nedlac social partners is that this is not adequate: there has to be an opportunity for engagement, where organised business and labour can ask questions, propose amendments and, if necessary, negotiate those amendments,” she said.

Unlawful decision

Deputy health minister Joe Phaahla and senior health department officials came under fire from several MPs on the portfolio committee on health on Wednesday who queried whether the bill was vulnerable to legal attack due to the limited engagement with Nedlac.

The African Transformation Movement’s (ATM’s) Vuyolwethu Zungula said the health department’s decision to table the bill in parliament before it was discussed in Nedlac was unlawful and undermined trust between the government and its social partners.

Phaala assured MPs that the department had not erred, saying there was no legal requirement for it to agree to Nedlac’s request for it to establish a working committee to conduct clause-by-clause analysis of the bill.

Cosatu parliamentary co-ordinator Matthew Parks said the federation supported the bill, but was wary of the government cutting corners and undermining Nedlac.

“The smartest thing now is for the portfolio committee to say it will delay, give Nedlac six months to process it, and then bring the bill back. It could easily be done — we did it with National Health Insurance,” he said.

kahnt@businesslive.co.za