Parly health committee announces 2 more public hearings on new tobacco bill

CAPE TOWN - Finalising a new tobacco bill which sets out tougher restrictions on public smoking, the sale of cigarettes as well as vaping products is set to gain momentum in the new parliamentary year.

Chairperson of Parliament's health portfolio committee, Sibongiseni Dhlomo, has announced that two more public hearings on the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill have been added to the calendar.

While hearings have now been held in all the provinces, Dhlomo said he's concerned that only one hearing had been held in the Free State and the Western Cape.

At a media briefing at Parliament, Dhlomo said the committee would now hold another hearing in each of these provinces later in January.

He said that the bill was critical for promoting public health and reducing the burden of tobacco-related diseases.

"After those processes, there are quite a lot of other institutions that have written to the portfolio committee requesting to engage and sit down and really present their issues, so that process will probably start immediately after the State of the Nation Address in February or March. We don’t know the date yet, but we will finish this first phase, which will probably end on the first of February."