Patel says he ‘loves hot food’, explains why it’s been put on ice for now

Minister of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel has responded to criticism from South Africans after the total ban of hot food sales during the nationwide lockdown.

Patel said while there was nothing wrong with hot food in principle, government had banned its sale in an attempt to limit human contact.

He told 702 on Tuesday morning: “Like many South Africans, I love hot food. The lockdown period is about limiting movement, getting all of us to stay home, and of course it is enormously stressful, but we have to try to save lives. The regulations were put in place to enable basic essential items to be bought and only essential workers to go to work. There are thousands of hot food outlets in the country.

“The big thing in the news is about counters in supermarkets but there are also burger and hot dog places, chesa nyamas, aunties selling vetkoeks, koeksisters in Cape Town.

“Across the country, we have enormous numbers of places selling hot foods and this would create a huge number of people moving out of homes to get hot foods. Those are vectors of transmission. In this phase we’re in, it’s about limit of movement.”

While the disaster regulation previously stated that “any food product including non-alcoholic beverages” was fine to be sold, a new amendment on Monday tidied up the loophole, with the new regulations reading “any food product, including non-alcoholic beverages, but excluding cooked hot food”.

In a statement on Monday, the Democratic Alliance accused Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister (Cogta) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of having “swooped in at the last minute” to rescue Patel from a legal challenge the party was set to announce.

Dlamini-Zuma “hurriedly amended the lockdown regulations to explicitly ban the sale of cooked foods in an attempt to put a lid on the public humiliation Minister Patel was subjected to after he stated on the 16th of April that ‘as the law stands’, the sale of cooked food was banned”, according to DA MP Dean Macpherson.

He said this statement had been unlawful at the time and “Patel had to rely on his Cabinet colleague to cure his legal nightmare”.

Only Dlamini-Zuma has the power to gazette new regulations related to the state of disaster declared by the president last month.

The DA was set to approach the High Court in Pretoria to lodge urgent papers to have Patel’s comments declared unlawful as well as seek a personal costs order against him.

However, Monday’s new amendment to the law legalised the previously illegal ban on cooked food.

The party called the move by government both “short sighted and mean spirited, especially for frontline health care workers, members of the security services, essential service workers and transport workers like truck drivers who rely on cooked food due to the work they are doing”.

Macpherson said it would also prove to be particularly devastating for the elderly, who may be unable to cook food due to their frailty.

“I will now write to Patel through our lawyers requesting the reasons for this ban on cooked and prepared food which should be provided to us by midday on Tuesday. We will then be able to decide on our next course of action.”

The DA said they would remain committed to ensuring the executive did not overreach its mandate.

“It is an important test case in the lockdown to ensure that ministers treat citizens with the respect they deserve and are held to account for their actions.”

Business group Sakeliga also threatened legal action against the department of trade and industry unless Patel reversed restrictions on warm or cooked foods.

The group had given Patel until 9am on Monday to respond or they would take legal action.

One of its points read: “There is no other provision in the lockdown regulation which prohibits the sale of any category of food.”

However, that has now changed with the new gazetted regulation.

(Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde. Additional reporting, Charles Cilliers)

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