{"id":23077,"date":"2026-01-29T16:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T14:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/saftu-slams-british-american-tobaccos-planned-closure-of-factory\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:33:57","slug":"saftu-slams-british-american-tobaccos-planned-closure-of-factory","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/saftu-slams-british-american-tobaccos-planned-closure-of-factory\/","title":{"rendered":"SAFTU slams British American Tobacco\u2019s planned closure of factory"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"elementor elementor-825347 elementor-location-header\" data-elementor-type=\"header\" data-elementor-id=\"825347\" data-elementor-post-type=\"elementor_library\">\n<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4567c689 elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-full_width docked_menu elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4567c689\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-25 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5712e7d elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-mobile\" data-id=\"5712e7d\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c6b028f elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-search-form--skin-classic elementor-search-form--button-type-icon elementor-search-form--icon-search elementor-widget elementor-widget-search-form\" data-id=\"c6b028f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;skin&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"search-form.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n<form class=\"elementor-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.sabcnews.com\/sabcnews\" method=\"get\">\n<div class=\"elementor-search-form__container\">\n<div>The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) has called for urgent intervention in halting what it calls deindustrialisation, factory closures and the wholesaling of the country\u2019s economy.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The trade union federation has criticised plans by\u00a0British American Tobacco to shut down its local manufacturing plant at the end of the year.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The company cited criminal syndicates dominating the industry as the main reason, with illicit cigarettes now accounting for 75% of the market.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says they\u2019ve also taken issue with the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill that is currently up for consideration in Parliament.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cParliament must not pass, we repeat, the tobacco control bill in its current form. The process must be halted immediately. In its present form, this bill will weaken legal producers, will strengthen illicit and criminal operators, will accelerate factory closures and will finish off the thousands of remaining manufacturing jobs. You cannot regulate compliant companies out of existence while criminals operate freely.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23078,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-23077","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The trade union federation has criticised plans by\u00a0British American Tobacco to shut down its local manufacturing plant.","published_date":null,"news_description":"The trade union federation has criticised plans by\u00a0British American Tobacco to shut down its local manufacturing plant.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26163,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23077\/revisions\/26163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}