Close on the heels of the lifting of South Africa’s five-month cigarette ban in late August, the government has pledged to follow a public participation process should the ban be reinstated during the country’s ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.

Fair-trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) chairperson Sinenhlanhla Mnguni said in a statement that this undertaking was part of a settlement in which the company had agreed to drop its legal challenge against the government over the ban.