{"id":401661,"date":"2020-05-26T08:19:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T06:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=401661"},"modified":"2020-05-26T08:23:28","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T06:23:28","slug":"problems-with-south-africas-plan-to-sell-alcohol-at-level-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/401661\/problems-with-south-africas-plan-to-sell-alcohol-at-level-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Problems with South Africa’s plan to sell alcohol at level 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brewing and beverage company Distell Group, says that the government’s plan to sell alcohol under limited trading conditions could cause unintended consequences.
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Addressing the nation on Sunday evening (24 May), president Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa will move to alert level 3 with effect from 1 June – with more sectors of the economy opening and the removal of a number of restrictions on the movement of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe implementation of alert level 3 from the beginning of June will involve the return to operation of most sectors of the economy, subject to observance of strict health protocols and social distancing rules.<\/p>\n

“The opening of the economy and other activities means that more public servants will be called back to work,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlcohol may be sold for home consumption only under strict conditions, on specified days and for limited hours. Announcements in this regard will be made once we have concluded discussions with the sector on the various conditions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The National Coronavirus Command Council is set to brief media on the regulations relating to the Covid-19 Level 3 restrictions on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Distell is a part of the South African Liquor Brand Owners Association (SALBA), who is working alongside other industry participants such as the Beer Association of South Africa (BASA) and VinPro.<\/p>\n

It said that the industry associations have been engaging with government to develop practical trading proposals that will support the government\u2019s Covid-19 objectives.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the announcement, Distell chief executive officer Richard Rushton said: \u201cWe welcome the move by government to allow the alcohol industry to return to responsible trading.<\/p>\n

“The alcohol industry currently contributes to nearly a million jobs along the value chain and supports nearly 800 small and medium enterprises. We are working with the government and providing input on the draft proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that Distell\u2019s two areas of concern are the unintended consequences of restricted trading that result in overcrowding, and continue to incentivise illicit trade.<\/p>\n

“Secondly, we want to ensure the economic inclusion of taverners who are currently excluded from transforming to off consumption outlets.”<\/p>\n

He said that in India, where after a six-week ban on the sales of alcohol, similar decisions were taken to open up with restricted trading which led to over-crowding and fighting at outlets.<\/p>\n

“This outcome would be counterproductive to strict safety protocols and government\u2019s overall Covid-19 objectives,” Rushton warned.<\/p>\n

“Illicit trade has also seen a dramatic rise since the ban, which also may continue should trading be banned over the weekends when customers typically consume alcohol. Industry associations have presented several proposals and solutions to ensure safe off consumption trading of taverns.<\/p>\n

“These solutions include safety protocols for trading, including e-commerce, and also addressed transmission risks across the value chain and the safety of the workforce, suppliers, retailers and consumers,” the chief executive said.<\/p>\n

He said that one of the solutions include a \u2018click and collect’ model which has been developed with taverns to ensure social distancing measures are followed, in the same way that traditional restaurants will be allowed to operate.<\/p>\n

Rushton said that the taverner associations have committed to ensuring adherence to health and safety regulations, as well as social distancing at all times.<\/p>\n

This forms a part of industry\u2019s educational and training initiatives aimed primarily at the 34,500 tavern owners to ensure they provide a safe environment for customers in which to trade.<\/p>\n

“Part of the support for taverns includes supplying the free personal protective equipment packages, including sanitisers, masks, gloves, as well as education and training material to meet strict Covid-19 safety protocols.<\/p>\n

“We also see these 34,500 tavern owners as an important part of economic inclusion in both protecting lives and livelihoods. I am confident we can address these challenges together with government.\u201d Rushton said.<\/p>\n

A consortium of Liquor Trader Associations, made up of associations of township-based taverns and shebeens representing over 50,000 members countrywide, has also recommended that township taverns be permitted to operate as sanitary, off-site liquor sales points, to assist in enabling alcohol sales within townships.<\/p>\n

The aim of this recommendation is to lessen the risk of customers overcrowding township retail outlets, reduce the need for travel to purchase alcohol and reactivating a large proportion of the township economy, it said in a separate statement on Monday (25 May).<\/p>\n

With between 80 – 90% of alcohol sales in townships being driven by taverns and shebeens, only allowing alcohol retailers to open in Level 3 will result in limited sales points, which are often located on the outskirts of townships, the association said.<\/p>\n

“These points will be inundated with customers eager to purchase. This mass descent on very limited stockists will result in non-adherence to social distancing measures and will no doubt undo much of the good work being done by the government in its attempts to curb the spread of Covid-19 within townships.<\/p>\n

The consortium said it supports limited hours and daytime sales but believes that without tavern sales, members of the public will resort to travelling further distances and will put themselves as risk by using public transport in their attempts to try and reach outlets.<\/p>\n

This is also problematic as alcohol is not permitted on public transport.<\/p>\n

Beyond the impact of limited outlets on virus spread, the consortium said it is also alarmed by the huge financial consequences brought about by the lack of shebeen and tavern sales on the permit holders and operators and their staff.<\/p>\n

“Each tavern usually supports numerous families and provides a vital cash flow into the local community,” it noted.<\/p>\n

Protocols and workplace plans
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As more sectors of the economy open, Ramaphosa said that the government will rely on social compacts with all key role players to address the key risk factors at the workplace and in the interface between employees and the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will, therefore, be finalising a number of sector protocols and will require every company to develop a workplace plan before they re-open,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n

Companies will need to put in place sanitary and social distancing measures and facilities; they will need to screen workers on arrival each day, quarantine those who may be infected and make arrangements for them to be tested.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also need to assist with contact tracing if employees test positive. Because of their vulnerability, all staff who are older than 60 years of age and those who suffer from underlying conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancer should ideally stay at home,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n

The appropriate restart and phasing in arrangements will need to be put in place for every workplace.<\/p>\n

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Read: 4 lockdown rules South Africans should know about<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brewing and beverage company Distell Group, says that the government’s plan to sell alcohol under limited trading conditions could cause unintended consequences, for which it has proposed several solutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":61975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14931,26],"class_list":["post-401661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-distell-group","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401661"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401709,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401661\/revisions\/401709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}