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Liquor dealers have directly called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to meet with the industry and end the current ban on the sale of alcohol.
In a statement Saturday, the group said the industry is being decimated and that an ongoing ban will ruin businesses and put at least 250,000 jobs at risk.
The Liquor Traders Formation statement comes a day after South African Breweries (SAB) announced that the company will cancel another R2.5 billion of investments destined for 2021.
The firm is also taking the government to court to overturn the ban on the sale of alcohol.
The merchants said that while they supported the government’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, they “fully support” SAB’s legal action against the alcohol sale ban.
The current ban on the sale of alcohol was implemented on December 28 of last year and initially expired on January 15 of this year. It was implemented to decrease the number of hospital trauma cases resulting from alcohol abuse during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, in his address to the nation on Monday, January 11, Ramaphosa announced that the ban would remain in effect.
He gave no indication of when the ban can be lifted, leaving the industry in limbo.
‘Financial ruin’
Liquor dealers are calling for the ban on off-site consumption to be lifted, for taverns and shebeens to receive R20,000 per establishment in financial assistance, and for a moratorium on liquor license fees for the rest of the year.
“The continued ban on the sale of alcohol continues to wreak havoc in the sector and appears to be condemning thousands of livelihoods to poverty, while the future of the taverns remains in doubt,” the merchants said in a statement.
“The third and current prohibition of alcohol seems to be the surest way that a death sentence has been pronounced in the tavern sector. We do not see how we can recover or much less return from this prohibition. “
The Training establishes that if the sector continues to be unable to operate, the livelihoods of 250,000 employees are in direct danger.
Said the training coordinator, Lucky Ntimane: “The alcohol industry has already lost an estimated 25 billion rand and counting due to the three bans (on alcohol sales) it had to endure and if the status quo is maintained , we are on track to eliminate a record number of jobs in an industry that has always been known for creating and sustaining livelihoods. “
Court challenge
On Friday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) also entered the fray, calling the ban “economically crippling.”
“It is very clear that this ill-thought-out ban is having devastating economic consequences for South Africa,” said Dean Macpherson, shadow minister for Commerce, Industry and Competition at the Prosecutor’s Office.
The comments come as SAB prepares to challenge the blanket ban on the sale of alcohol in court.
In a previous statement, the multinational brewery said that it “believes that any prohibition, including the current one, goes far beyond what is reasonable and necessary to contain the spread of the virus and illegally restricts various rights that are enshrined and protected by our constitution. .
“These include the right to freedom of commerce, the right to human dignity, privacy, and the right to physical and psychological integrity.
“Challenging the constitutionality of the ban, which removes the right of the South African public as adults to consume beer responsibly and safely in the privacy of their own homes, is an integral part of SAB’s action.”
SAB said that the damage that prohibition has had on the country’s economy and the “impact on the alcohol value chain” is “disproportionate and illegal.”
The company said it had made recommendations to the government, which were ignored. These included allowing off-site consumption and limiting trading days and hours.
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