{"id":478787,"date":"2021-03-26T08:44:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T06:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=478787"},"modified":"2021-03-26T08:44:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T06:44:01","slug":"businesses-warn-against-alcohol-ban-over-easter-weekend-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/478787\/businesses-warn-against-alcohol-ban-over-easter-weekend-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Businesses warn against alcohol ban over Easter weekend in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liquor industry stakeholders have warned of the harmful effects of a fourth alcohol ban for South Africa, after the lockdowns and bans devastated the sector over the past year.<\/p>\n

The warning comes as president Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet is set to meet to discuss the possible introduction of a higher lockdown level over the Easter weekend period.<\/p>\n

Convener of the Liquor Traders Formation Lucky Ntimane said the national coronavirus command council is expected to discuss a potential ban on alcohol.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not think that a total ban on alcohol sales will be a solution either in the short or long term,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

“A complete shutdown of liquor sales would mean an end to the tavern market and the 250,000 direct jobs linked to the sector,”\u00a0 it said.<\/p>\n

It added that any curfew measures and alcohol restrictions, if they are introduced, should still allow off-premises sales to allow for home consumption.<\/p>\n

This has been echoed by South African Liquor Brand Association chief executive Kurt Moore who told BusinessDay<\/a> <\/strong>that neither the industry nor country could afford any further restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cA fourth ban on alcohol sales will be devastating to an industry that was decimated by three bans and is only starting its economic recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Super-spreader events<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said that a decision to move South Africa to a higher lockdown level is currently being discussed by government officials.<\/p>\n

Mkhize said that the decisions will be based on recommendations from epidemiological experts as well as business and members of civil sector.<\/p>\n

He said that there have been recommendations to introduce a stricter lockdown as part of a consultation process based on scientific evidence.<\/p>\n

However, he noted that the government has also received a request from the religious sector to allow for increased church attendance over the Easter weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a sensitive period where there is the vulnerability and the chance of the risk that we could have a super spreading event, with all the festivities and activities that go with the Easter long weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the advisory was for a temporary increase in restrictions over this period of time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the government has to take into account that we must\u00a0discourage super-spreader events\u00a0over the Easter weekend, we need to avoid\u00a0inter-provincial movement\u00a0which could lead to spreading the virus.<\/p>\n

However, he noted that South Africans have largely learnt their lessons over the past year on issues such as mask-wearing and\u00a0social distancing, indicating that government may not have to be overly strict with a lockdown.<\/p>\n

\n

Read: Advisory committee calls for harder lockdown over Easter weekend in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liquor industry stakeholders have warned of the harmful effects of a fourth alcohol ban for South Africa after the lockdowns and bans have devastated the sector over the past year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":153123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-478787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478787","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=478787"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":478797,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478787\/revisions\/478797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}