Thursday 05 March 2026 – Tax Justice South Africa (TJSA) has welcomed the trade unions’ call for mandatory production monitoring in cigarette factories, saying it exposes the real motives behind tobacco manufacturers’ legal fight against SARS surveillance.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) has urged government to introduce strict monitoring of cigarette production, including cameras inside factories, to curb the country’s rampant illicit tobacco trade.
TJSA leader Yusuf Abramjee says the intervention from organised labour “calls the bluff” of cigarette manufacturers who claim that surveillance systems are an invasion of privacy.
“For months, the local cigarette lobby has tried to portray SARS cameras in factories as some kind of abuse of privacy,” Abramjee said. “That argument collapses the moment you apply common sense.
“Across South Africa, cameras are used every day to stop criminals stealing property. They are installed in shops, warehouses, banks and office buildings. Why should cigarette factories be the only workplaces where cameras are suddenly unacceptable?
“The unions realise how illicit trade destroys honest jobs and their call for production monitoring is an attempt to protect hard-working South Africans from this criminal menace.”
Abramjee said the fierce resistance from the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) raises serious questions about what the trade body is trying to hide.
“South Africa is losing more than R30 billion a year in tax revenue because of illicit cigarettes. When companies fight this hard against basic monitoring of production, the public is entitled to ask whose interests they are protecting.
“If FITA truly supports efforts to combat illicit trade, it should welcome transparent monitoring of production. Instead, it is spending its time and resources fighting the very tools that could expose illegal activity.”
Abramjee says government should take a tougher stance against companies that refuse to cooperate with enforcement measures.
“Any cigarette manufacturer that refuses to allow SARS monitoring systems in its factory should immediately lose its production licence,” he said. “A company that has nothing to hide should have nothing to fear.”
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