Stop Skyf Capture

Anger is starting to run high outside Tshwane House. Protest now underway. People want to be allowed into the hearings or for it to be called off.

The Tobacco Control Bill will certainly fuel the illicit trade and make the criminal kingpins richer. Met a young man who claims to be representing an NPO. He and five others came to support the Bill. He says his founder is out of the country. Asked if he was paid to come and support the Bill, he said: “…not really but we get our funding from some people.” Rent a crowd to support the controversial bill? Others who are opposed to the Bill say it seems some youth are being paid to support the proposed new laws. @TaxJustice_SA @StopSkyfCap

More illicit cigarettes seized in Limpopo. The illicit trade is costing SA billions of rands annually. The kingpins need to be arrested once and for all. @TaxJustice_SA @StopSkyfCap

YUSUF ABRAMJEE: New tobacco laws are a gift for gangsters ⁦@TaxJustice_SA⁩ ⁦@BusinessLiveSA⁩ ⁦@StopSkyfCap⁩ IF YOU ARE OPPOSED TO THE PROPOSED LAW, please RETWEET and let’s say #NoToTheTobaccoBill businesslive.co.za/bd/opinio…

The Limpopo Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation's Assets Forfeiture Unit has successfully secured a preservation order worth almost R4m against illicit cigarettes smugglers. On 08 February 2023, Limpopo Tracking Team together with Makhado Police received intelligence about five luxury vehicles that were transporting illicit cigarettes from Zimbabwe to Johannesburg. Five suspicious vehicles (Ford Territory, Nissan Pathfinder, 2 BMW 5 series and an Audi A4) were spotted driving in a convoy on the N1 near Makhado and they were tactically stopped. The vehicles were searched and illicit cigarettes worth R1.7 million believed to be destined for Johannesburg were found and seized. About 11 occupants including the drivers and passengers were arrested for smuggling illicit cigarettes. The vehicles were also seized as part of the investigation. The Hawks Assets Forfeiture Unit was entrusted with the responsibility of assets investigation until the preservation order of five vehicles was issued by the Polokwane High Court on 14 August 2023. @SAPoliceService @NPA_Prosecutes @TaxJustice_SA

#DailySafetyTip •Don’t buy illicit cigarettes •If you buy cigarettes for less than R23.92 per pack, they must be illegal •If there isn’t a SA diamond stamp on your pack, they are illegal. @TaxJustice_SA @StopSkyfCap

A POLICE crackdown on sellers of illicit goods in Johannesburg CBD should be just the first step in an all-out offensive against crimelords who are looting South Africa of desperately needed revenue, Tax Justice SA (TJSA) says today.   “Organised crime kingpins have captured key sectors of our economy. They’re stealing more than R100 billion annually from the state purse by distributing smuggled, counterfeit and other tax-evading goods.   “Police may have cleared a few small-scale vendors from our streets at the weekend, but now they need to follow the money and catch the kingpins who operate massive networks nationwide, manufacturing and pushing out illicit goods with seeming impunity.   “Every day that authorities fail to act against these lords of organised crime, honest, hard-working South Africans are being deprived of the essential services which their stolen taxes are meant to buy.”   “The R100 billion stolen from South Africa every year could pay for:   ·      A basic income grant for half the population   ·      A free house for 5 million desperate citizens   ·      Solar systems that would take 100 small towns annually off the Eskom grid for ever   “Instead, transnational organised crime gangs are using their ill-gotten wealth to build lives of luxury for themselves.   “The illicit cigarette trade, for example, has sky-rocketed since the lockdown sales ban and now robs Mzansi over R20 billion a year. That huge fiscal hole is set to get even bigger if MPs pass the new tobacco control bill which seems designed to boost business for tax cheats.   “South Africans are fed up with living in a country where crime is allowed to pay. Instead of passing new laws that will turn smokers into criminals, our leaders should be tackling the gangsters who are crippling our country, endangering lives and threatening our future prosperity.   “Instead of giving us PR stunts, we need our police to follow the money, catch the kingpins and lock them up.” @TaxJustice_SA

#ToboccoControlBox @TaxJustice_SA @StopSkyfCap • The new tobacco control bill will deliver even more business to these illicit manufacturers. They don’t obey existing regulations and won’t obey any new ones. Authorities have shown they’re unable or unwilling to stop the industrial-scale looting of cigarette taxes.   • Illicit cigarettes are on sale across the country for as little as R6 per pack of 20. That’s a fraction of the minimum taxes due on the pack, which add up to R23.92. If the Government really wants to reduce smoking, it should lock up the makers of these illicit cigarettes and shut their factories. Instead, they’re about to make these criminals even richer.   • The Bill won’t save a single life. It is simply a gift for gangsterism, just like the lockdown sales ban.