$1000000000.00 rand the month in tax losses money critics argue it could have been used to fight the pandemic corney of an while big is a professor at the school of economics at the university of cape town he recently conducted a study on smokers response to the ban the missing tax revenue is not his main concern. the more important thing is that the in this ad market is becoming more entrenched in illicit market was bad already before the lockdown started we think it's in the order of between 25 and 30 percent of the total market was really in the city at that point in time and what's happening now is that people are changing the behavior to cheaper cigarettes the in the distribution networks are becoming more and more established into the market and that's going to be a very very difficult thing to get rid of in time to come. president cyril ramaphosa or ignored the issue in his latest speech the independent tobacco association feature is contesting the banning court even in many initially supported it the rationale behind the ban now seems unclear since the 1st of may i think it was silly and act