Booze sales: Traders, consumers urged to act safely and responsibly

With liquor and tobacco industries in full operation yesterday – long queues and liquor businesses booming during Level 2 – the Beer Association of SA (Basa) called on traders and consumers to sell and consume alcohol safely and responsibly.

Queues of people with trolley loads of booze loaded bakkies and trucks full of liquor as tavern owners sought to restock and people feared another lockdown on alcohol availability.

Patricia Pillay, chief executive of the Beer Association of SA, said: “We need to ensure the safe and legal reopening of the sector. Alcohol abuse and intoxication is a scourge and a burden on our health system as we battle the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is essential that all role players recognise the importance of responsible and moderate alcohol consumption. In this way we can safeguard the 414 886 livelihoods the beer industry supports while also prioritising lives during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Pillay said.

“In this regard, the beer industry, along with the broader alcohol industry, is implementing a number of programmes to ensure the responsible trade of alcohol and to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

“This includes providing training and guidelines to liquor outlets on social distancing and how to trade responsibly and safely. We have also developed click-andcollect platforms where customers can place orders via SMS and then pick up their alcohol purchases at a designated time for consumption at home.”

A customer’s vehicle is packed with alcohol at the Makro Liquor Store in Roodepoort, 18 August 2020, as South Africa allows the sale of alcohol and cigarettes again as the country moves into level two of lockdown during efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Picture: Michel Bega

The industry, said Pillay, “has also set up a toll-free hotline (0800-014-858), which people can call to report incidents of criminality linked to the sale and consumption of alcohol”.

“We call on liquor outlets to adhere to the rules of trade stipulated in the Level 2 regulations, to enforce the wearing of masks and social distancing. With thousands of outlets struggling to get back on their feet following the last two alcohol bans, increased restrictions or another ban could be a final blow for these businesses and the livelihoods they support,” Pillay said.

In response to the many queues around the country, Norman Goodfellows has partnered with Picup to build fully integrated on-demand delivery into its e-commerce platform. The company said the entire solution was “implemented within three days and can now handle hundreds of deliveries daily”.

Students in Pretoria were not worried about what was socially acceptable and started congregating at their favourite watering hole for a cold one before the clock struck midnight. The celebration was that of what had become their new normal, which, to the students, was far better than the lockdown liquor sale restrictions they had experienced up until now.

At the Springbok Bar near the University of Pretoria, all protocols were in place; a hostess made sure that patrons signed in, checked temperatures and ensured that the bar kept to the capacity rules. Inside the venue, patrons got their drinks from the bar and moved to open tables. A number of tables had been marked with an “X” to ensure physical distancing.

Customers shop at the Makro Liquor Store in Roodepoort, 18 August 2020, as South Africa allows the sale of alcohol and cigarettes as the country moves into level two of lockdown during efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Picture: Michel Bega

At Makro in Montague Gardens, Cape Town, the queue for the liquor section was modest compared with the mid-lockdown rush to stock up. At that time, earlier during lockdown, the queue had snaked around the fringes of the large parking lot. On whether people were broke, one person commented on Twitter: “No it’s just too effing cold to go out!” and another wrote: “We are free from abusing alcohol.”

A man in the queue said he was waiting to get a bottle at a “normal” price and was looking forward to resuming his regular weekly darts game in real life again, now that socialising rules have also been eased slightly.

“We played online, but it wasn’t the same,” he said as the queue was rearranged under a shelter when the rain in Cape Town started up again. The bulk-buy warehouse kept its social distancing rules in place, only letting in a limited number of people at a time. A bar owner trawled into the parking lot, his car heavily laden with crates of empty quarts of beer.

While unloading to take it in for a refill, a song with the hook “This is South Africa” blasted from his CD player. “It was tough,” he said of the toll on taverners.

– brians@citizen.co,za

Additional reporting News24 Wire

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