Questions raised over South Africa’s new alcohol restrictions
The Western Cape provincial government and a number of business groups have raised questions around South Africa’s new lockdown restrictions around alcohol.
In a national address on Monday evening (14 December), president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the new measures as a means of curbing the country’s Covid-19 cases over the festive season.
The new restrictions state that the sale of alcohol will only be permitted from 10h00 – 18h00 from Monday to Thursday at retail outlets. Wine farms can remain open and sell alcohol for off-site consumption as per their licence hours on some days.
In a letter addressing the new restrictions, the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA), the Liquor Traders Association of South Africa (LTASA) and other alcohol industry bodies acknowledged the broader aim of the restrictions is to control the further spread of Covid-19.
However, the groups said that they are concerned with the inconsistent approach by the government for liquor traders.
“Retailers and national grocery stores with liquor licences feel the restrictions which only affects off-site liquor traders are both discriminatory and unfair, if not uncompetitive.
“We, therefore, call the government to review the restrictions in January 2021 following the festive season.”
Retailers with liquor licences are some of the largest employers in South Africa and a significant contributor to the fiscus through taxes.
The latest restrictions, coming at a time when they were beginning to recover from the previous hard lockdowns, could potentially lead to job losses and financial losses, particularly for franchise operators and SMEs, the majority of which are black-owned.
“We are disappointed that despite the co-operation and strict compliance to safety protocols by industry, which has been so outstandingly apparent since the lockdown was first introduced in March 2020, that government without consultation and providing a rationale for its decision, restricted the sale of liquor products for off-site consumption.
“We are therefore seeking the reasons which informed this decision, which we believe is not only economically irrational but could also have the unintended consequence of benefiting those who practice in the illicit trade of such products.
“This was prevalent during the previous lockdowns when the sale of liquor was prohibited.”
Wine farms
Western Cape premier Alan Winde has also raised questions around the seemingly arbitrary rules around wine farms.
Winde said that the province’s submissions to the government included making an exception for tastings and sales at wine farms over the weekend, as this is critical to the survival of the wine tourism economy which employs thousands of people in rural communities.
“We are concerned that the regulations issued subsequently now limit the sale to Saturdays only,” he said.
“This doesn’t make any sense, as there is no difference between a Saturday and Sunday for this industry, and this limitation will undermine wine tourism which is highly dependent on weekends.
“We will be following up immediately to understand why this change was introduced in the regulations.”
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