ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte has told the tobacco industry to "back off" after a petition started circulating online this week, calling for the "removal" of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Duarte voiced her protest against the "odious attack on Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma by what is clearly a well-orchestrated and well-heeled tobacco industry", in a voice message shared with News24.

READ | Lockdown: Dlamini-Zuma pushes for tobacco, alcohol ban to continue until Level 1

In the message, she says the industry is trying to "make sure that we are driven into a deeper crisis during a period when we are facing a health crisis that attacks people’s respiratory organs".

'NDZ has done more for SA than tobacco industry'

"Well, as far as I’m concerned, this woman, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has done more for this country than the tobacco industry has or will do for any country, anywhere in the world, ever again, other than making people ill," Duarte says.

On Friday, News24 reported that Dlamini-Zuma had told the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) that the sale of tobacco and alcohol should continue to be banned until the country reaches Level 1 of the lockdown.