Sorry Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma but I don’t believe you. We know that you are not a big fan of tobacco products. You started legislating against it many years ago during the Mandela presidency. You have often spoken against it. It is true that you do not run government but I’m also sure that it is true that you were behind the ban.
I would be fair to assume that you were the one that argued for the ban at the National Command Council (NCC). This seems logical to me seeing that you’re the one in court defending the ban. I think if the scientists on the NCC suggested the ban, or agreed with you, they would be in court as they are much better qualified to defend the ban. Cogta was taken to court by BATSA. If the ban wasn’t at your instigation why didn’t you have the case dismissed on the grounds that the incorrect department and person was in court? So not only are you in court defending a decision you didn’t make but you are also wasting taxpayers’ money as you could have had the case dismissed.
You’re claiming that data shows that smoking is bad during the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet the Wuhan data that you supplied shows that not to be true. Or true if you only look at one figure instead of the whole situation. Facts: I’ve rounded the figures. The Wuhan population consists of 4 680 000 males and 4 320 000 females. There are 2 901 600 male smokers and 302 400 female smokers in Wuhan. Thus 35.6% of the Wuhan population are smokers. From this we know that if smoking had no effect then about 35% of those in ICU and of those who died will be smokers. However, the number of smokers admitted to ICU was only 27% and those who died was only 9% of total fatalities. Therefore both the ICU admissions and the deaths were lower than expected. Does this not back the data from Europe that smokers appear to have some protection rather than, as you claim, smokers are more at risk?
Data from Italy, Current Smoking is Not Associated with COVID-19, which backs up the data from Wuhan and data from France, Nicotine may be COVID-19 preventative, which does the same. There are a number of other countries where the data shows very similar results. Further studies will be needed but the data seems to indicate that smokers with severe symptoms are in trouble and also that smokers are in the region of 75% less likely to be infected by Covid-19. So either Dlamini-Zuma only analysed the effects of smoking on those severely infected by Covid-19 and ignored the rest of the data or she was aware of all the conclusions but selectively presented it. In other words, lied. My personal opinion is that a person with 2 degrees should know that you cannot work with selective data and that she deliberately withheld information and lied.
I can only conclude that Dlamini-Zuma was behind the ban, knew that she was presenting a half-truth and still pushed it through. You can claim innocence and hide behind the collective as much as you want to but the facts are obvious. Sorry ma’am, you were behind the decision. Trying to shift the blame is just as bad as your interpretation of the available data.