Dikgosi propose stiffer tobacco levy

Baboki Kayawe | Thursday July 6, 2017 17:52

 

Dikgosi say the tobacco levy should be raised to the level of the alcohol levy as both products have the same impact on public health. The traditional leaders aired these views yesterday at a meeting with anti-tobacco lobby group, Anti-Tobacco Network (ATN).

The meeting was meant to brief the traditional leadership on the tobacco control situation and its negative economic, health and environmental consequences. Kgosi Seate Marumo of Kanye region suggested that the tobacco levy, which currently stands at 30%, should be hiked to the match the alcohol levy’s 55%.  

“Stricter mechanisms, including licensing those who sell tobacco and associated products, ought to be in place,” he said. “The law should also force greater enforcement among officers because it is the enforcement of anti-tobacco laws we see as the weakest link.” An ex-smoker, Kgosi Oleyo Ledimo from the Maun region, credited the ATN for his rehabilitation and asked the lobby group to spread its wings across the country to current smokers.

He said multitudes were enslaved to tobacco and its associated products and there were no facilities to help them quit.  Kgosi Mosadi Seboko of BaMalete implored the anti-tobacco lobby to heighten its campaigns, and reach out to places outside Gaborone. “There are areas where the use of ‘snuff,’ both moist and nasal, is rampant. The ATN and others with medicinal expertise must also help dispel myths around tobacco, such as this belief that it heals headaches,” she said.

Kgosi Tshipe Tshipe from Mahalapye region called for robust public education on the effects of tobacco use encompassing the health impacts, social, economic and environmental consequences. He said an ample portion of the school curricula must be dedicated to combating tobacco and related products use.

 “Public education must be intensified, and it is critical that we start in schools. In addition, there has to be a radio and television programme where issues of tobacco use and implications in their entirety are discussed. Many could be educated and assisted when they want to quit or be helped not to even begin the habit.”