The head of government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on Covid-19, professor Koleka Mlisana, says that the country will need to introduce further lockdown restrictions to bring the third Covid-19 wave under control and free up hospital space.<\/p>\n
Mlisana told IOL<\/a><\/strong> that a number of issues need to be discussed, including the sale of alcohol and limitations on gatherings.<\/p>\n \u201cI know there are always concerns about liquor, so there definitely has to be close interactions and discussions about that,” she said “We definitely have to get into stricter restrictions right now otherwise we will end up with a caving healthcare system.”<\/p>\n The National Liquor Traders Council says that it is aware of the speculation around further restrictions around the sale of alcohol, but warned<\/a><\/strong> that thousands of township households will be impacted financially.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve already had a total of 20 weeks of alcohol bans and many of our members have been forced to close their doors forever as a result,\u201d said Lucky Ntimane, convenor of the National Liquor Traders Council.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will take some of these families generations to climb back out of poverty, and there is no vaccine for poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBanning alcohol is not an effective strategy to deal with Covid-19. People don\u2019t stop drinking when you ban alcohol, they just find other channels to buy from. This is actually a gift to the illicit trade, at the expense of legal businesses built up over many years,” he said.<\/p>\n Ntimane said that the NLTC has written to president Cyril Ramaphosa requesting an urgent meeting to discuss more effective measures to prevent the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that vaccination must be the top priority, but there are many things we can do in the meantime to assist,\u201d Ntimane said.<\/p>\n \u201cTaverners have been working with the alcohol industry to drastically improve compliance with Covid-19 protocols and liquor licence conditions. We\u2019ve increased the compliance from 75% in October last year to 89% in the latest audit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem at the moment is not alcohol, it\u2019s people getting tired of listening to instructions from the authorities and not behaving correctly,\u201d Ntimane said. \u201cWe are helping to spread the message that now is the time for maximum vigilance.\u201d<\/p>\n Investment<\/strong><\/p>\n The reintroduction of alcohol restrictions could have other knock-on effects, with South African Breweries (SAB) warning against future bans for the country.<\/p>\n SAB recently reinstated\u00a0its investment programme that was cancelled last year, allocating R2 billion for its home operations.<\/p>\n