The excise tax and VAT that would have been lost to SARS if these cigarettes found their way into the South Africa market amounts to more than R2 million.
According to TISA, the illicit trade in cigarettes currently comprises more than 20% of the total cigarette market in South Africa, which equates to approximately 6 billion illegal cigarettes per year, or over 15 million illegal cigarettes per day. This illegal activity defrauds the South African economy of more than R3 billion a year in unpaid taxes, leads to economic and social impacts, including job losses and increased criminality.
TISA CEO and chairman, Francois van der Merwe, said, "TISA commends SARS and all South African law enforcement agency officials for taking a firm and no-nonsense approach towards illicit operators and their willingness to work with industry. The millions of illegal cigarettes destroyed today are evidence of the very successful private/public partnership that exists between TISA, SARS and other government agencies and I believe is the only way to successfully combat illicit trade in tobacco products."
TISA assists SARS with the destruction of illicit cigarettes by means of custom-built hammer mills that shreds illicit products into fine pieces. This is then ploughed into landfill sites. All destructions take place in the presence of SARS officials.
From January 2011 to 31 May 2011, 225 million illegal cigarettes have been destroyed by TISA at various sites across South Africa in the presence of SARS officials. The total destroyed in 2010 was 31 million sticks. TISA has also destroyed more than 57 million seized cigarettes in Botswana in the presence of Botswana revenue officials.
