This is an edited version of the report published in Business Day on 27 February 2026.
On Wednesday evening (25 February 2026) the Health Department’s Deputy Director-General for Primary Healthcare, Jeanette Hunter, told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health that the Department is willing to differentiate combustible and non-combustible products with regard to plain packaging and labelling.
The Department has recommended that Parliament amend parts of the draft Tobacco Bill to accommodate the differences, a move that may offer some relief to industry lobbying against one-size-fits-all laws.
The Portfolio Committee is considering the draft Tobacco Products & Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, which proposes tightening restrictions on tobacco products and, for the first time, regulating e-cigarettes and other new-generation products. It proposes introducing graphic health warnings and plain packaging for all tobacco and nicotine-containing products, including e-cigarettes.
Companies that sell vapes and new-generation tobacco products that are heated instead of burnt are pressing for differentiated regulation that would see fewer restrictions imposed on their goods.
South Africa’s vaping industry and Philip Morris, which makes non-combustible tobacco products, have been arguing that controls should be in line with the health risk posed by different products and thus strongest for cigarettes.
Vapour Products Association of South Africa CEO Asanda Gcoyi told Business Day the Department’s distinction between combustible and non-combustible tobacco products is welcome, but differentiation needs to be applied to the entire bill.
“I think it’s good that the department of health has finally seen the scientific data for what it is and that it is not just an industry narrative as described [by the] media,” she said.
The department has been pushing for stricter tobacco rules and regulation of new-generation products for almost a decade, but enabling legislation is only now being considered by parliament
The Health Department also recommended a new clause be added to the bill addressing the illicit trade in cigarettes. Hunter told MP’s the new clause would commit the Health Minister to support efforts to eradicate the illicit trade in tobacco and related products in collaboration with other organs of state. These recommendations are in line with an agreement reached in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) last year.
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MPs are expected to vote on the desirability of the bill on 11 March 2026.
If they give it the go-ahead, they will then begin clause-by-clause deliberation. While many MPs have expressed reservations about specific aspects of the bill, ranging from the harshness of its proposed penalties to the risk of unintended consequences for informal traders, they are in broad agreement on the need to introduce controls for e-cigarettes, which are now unregulated.
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