SOUTH AFRICA:Tobacco bill changes may not stave off challenge()

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Tobacco bill changes may not  stave off challenge
by Wyndham Hartley
Business Day (8882) 
Date: Friday, 2/19/99

CAPE TOWN - The controversial tobacco bill has been amended to allow
people to smoke in their homes, but the draft amendments are still not
enough to stave off a Constitutional Court challenge on the grounds that
the legislation violates the right to free speech. 

The proposed amendments, to be dealt with by the parliamentary health
committee next week, deal only with the bill's definitions of an
"organised activity" and "private residence", omitting some of the broader
concerns that were raised by stakeholders in the advertising and
publishing industries. 

The narrow focus of the amendments stems from the president's legal
advisers' findings that a ban on tobacco advertising would be legal. The
parliamentary committee is allowed to address only those sections
commented on by the president.

Last month President Nelson Mandela refused to sign the bill into law on
the grounds that it might be unconstitutional. He sent it back to
Parliament for review.

A spokesman for the Freedom of Commercial Speech Trust said yesterday the
proposed amendments did not address the trust's concerns. Former trust
president Neil Jacobsohn and current chairman Peter Vundla had appealed to
Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma on the freedom of speech aspect of the
Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill to avoid litigation, but there had
been no response. 

The spokesman said declarations that it had been consulted on the bill
were simply not true.  It was not enough to say that an invitation to a
public hearing at the last moment of a rushed process was consultation. 
There were also concerns about the procedures followed in getting the
tobacco bill through Parliament and this, with the failure to give the
trust a chance to air sensible and rational proposals, were further
reasons for a Constitutional Court challenge, he said. 

The trust fully supported government's intention of stopping smoking among
youngsters and in public places, but believed it was using
unconstitutional means to achieve those goals. 

It is understood that more than R1m has been raised to mount a court
challenge, should this prove necessary. 

Parliament's health committee is set to decide on the amendments to the
bill on Monday and will send them to the National Assembly and the
National Council of Provinces for approval before the bill is again sent
to Mandela for his signature.