Councillors across Botswana warn that years of delay in implementing the Tobacco Control Act are leaving young people exposed to vaping, nicotine products and second-hand smoke.
GAZETTE REPORTER
Pressure is mounting on government to bring the long-delayed Tobacco Control Act of 2021 into force, with councillors warning that the implementation gap is leaving communities, particularly young people, increasingly exposed to tobacco and nicotine products.
The latest call came from Kgatleng District councillors during an Anti-Tobacco Network (ATN) engagement on September 24. Deputy Council Chairperson Solomon Letshwiti and fellow councillors raised concerns about youth vaping, smoking in prohibited public spaces and weak enforcement.
“We urge for stronger efforts to prevent young people from becoming dependent on tobacco and nicotine products,” Councillor Mogapi Mooki said.
16 COUNCILS
According to ATN, its Clean Air Project engagements have reached 16 full councils across Botswana, where concerns have repeatedly surfaced about children’s access to nicotine products, vaping and exposure to second-hand smoke.
ATN has cited the 2024 Global School-based Student Health Survey, which recorded an 11.1 percent electronic-cigarette use figure among children.
ACT STILL DORMANT
At the centre of the campaign is the Tobacco Control Act, 2021, which provides for regulation of tobacco sales, advertising, packaging and exposure to tobacco smoke. It restricts sales to people under 21 and covers electronic cigarettes and other nicotine-delivery products.
However, years after its passage, the legislation has yet to become operational.
“People smoke even where it is clearly prohibited,” Charles Hill East Councillor Matthews Moapare said.
CAPITAL JOINS
Gaborone Deputy Mayor Mankie Sekete has warned that prolonged delays could leave Botswana confronting problems that become increasingly difficult to reverse.
“The Act was passed in 2021, and if it is still not in use to this day, I am afraid that we will soon find ourselves responsible for problems that we cannot come back from,” Sekete said.
“The pleasant smells and flavours are fooling young people into thinking it is not as dangerous as it actually is,” she said.
SWEEPING CONTROLS
The Act was passed by the National Assembly on August 16, 2021 and assented to by the President on October 18, 2021, repealing the Control of Smoking Act of 1992.
Among its provisions, it raises the minimum age for buying or selling tobacco products to 21 and prohibits smoking in enclosed public places, workplaces, vehicles and other public-access areas. It also bans tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, point-of-sale displays, vending-machine sales and the sale of single cigarettes, while setting a minimum package size of 20 cigarettes.