As the national shutdown approached, ministers started issuing regulations under the National Disaster Act. Among these regulations was the requirement that only essential goods can be sold. 

The regulations spelt out that alcohol could not be sold. This immediately led to long queues at bottle stores around the country.

However, a prohibition on the sale of cigarettes was not spelt out in the regulations. Instead, ministers said cigarettes were not considered “essential” and so could not be sold.

This triggered a discussion about what is essential and what is not. Are water and bread essential? Obviously. Milk? Kind of. How about chocolate? Or Coke? Or any fizzy drink? Or chips? All of these items are currently for sale at a supermarket near you.

But cigarettes are not. This at a time when some addicts will no doubt be under more pressure than usual.

Then the Western Cape said it was interpreting the regulations differently. Premier Alan Winde went on to SAfm and said that it was not that they were disobeying the regulations. They just “interpret” them differently and were allowing cigarettes to be sold, so long as they were bought with other essential items. He was clear that this did not mean tobacconists could suddenly reopen, only that cigarettes can be sold along with food. He said the Western Cape government was worried about the consequences of banning tobacco sales so suddenly.

Winde also made the point that electronics shops are closed, which means learners may not be able to purchase the chargers or devices or cables they need to study online.

However, Police Minister Bheki Cele then shot back that cigarettes were not essential items, and so could not be sold. Full stop. And in an interview published by City Press on Sunday 5 April, he said that the Western Cape was not a “super-province” that could do what it liked.

Of course, it is clear that smoking is bad for you, and Winde himself says people should try to give it up.

But that is not really the issue here. Rather, it appears that the DA has found a way to politicise the lockdown.

Until this point, there had been general agreement across the political spectrum of the importance of the lockdown. The DA, the EFF and other parties have explicitly supported the ANC government. This has been one of those rare times when everyone is behind the president.

Thus, this change is significant.

It suggests that “normal” politics is creeping into the national lockdown situation.

The issue was very well chosen, as the definition of “essential” was always going to be controversial.

At the same time, it should not be forgotten that our restrictions are, as the BBC put it, “among the strictest in the world”. Most other countries have not banned the sale of either alcohol or cigarettes. This, then, gives the Western Cape provincial government something to argue with. It will claim the regulations are unnecessary and extreme.

It may also find a way to argue in the same direction for different constituencies. The DA could claim to its own, probably richer voters, that this is an overreach by government. It may say to smokers generally, many of whom will vote for the ANC, that this is about their rights, and was an attempt by the government to subvert these rights. This can help the DA in its case to voters that the ANC cannot be trusted with power. It may claim that the ANC will not only be corrupt in office, but will also try to “steal” or subvert citizens’ rights if given the chance. The main message could be that the ANC “does not deserve voters’ trust”.

It would be difficult for the national government to respond. It could go to court. But that could elevate this issue in a way that backfires. It might be difficult to convince a judge that there is a link between the national lockdown and smoking. A judge would have to be convinced that a ban on the sale of cigarettes adds to the national lockdown effort which is about preventing the spread of Covid-19. It would be a difficult case to prove. And it would take a long time to finish the legal process.

There are some who lament the signs that “normal politics” is creeping in during lockdown. It is right to be disappointed at the departure of the sense of national unity among our politicians during the extraordinary times like these. It helps everyone to have leaders of different constituencies preaching from the same hymn book.

But, in the longer term, it is important that politicians do not forget their role, and that opposition parties show up the national government. 

Last week, speaking on Newzroom Afrika, Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said we should not concentrate on individual rights during this time. She suggested that people should focus on their responsibilities, which would appear to involve obeying the government’s instructions. For opposition parties to remain on the alert during this time is an important part of their duty.

It may also mean that politics will continue as normal after the lockdown. And that during the lockdown there are opposition politicians who are still thinking about weakening the governing party. In the longer run, that is going to be important. It would confirm that our politics, and therefore our freedoms, do survive a pandemic. If politicians were completely silent during this period it would make it more difficult to return to “normal” politics.

The dispute over cigarettes shows that is not the case. This means the government is not going to have things all its own way. 

In the end, as strange as it might seem, an argument about cigarettes may show that our democracy will survive a lockdown imposed by a pandemic. DM