South Africa’s liquor industry is slowly bouncing back from a lockdown ban that was imposed on alcohol sales by government as a way to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and prevent it from rapidly spreading.
In response to the lifting of the ban, there have been concerted efforts by various stakeholders which include government, law enforcement agencies and trading associations aimed at saving businesses and jobs in the alcohol sector while ensuring safety, responsible trading and the responsible consumption of alcohol.
In an effort to achieve the above objectives, Gauteng MEC for community safety Faith Mazibuko joined Gauteng provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela in disposing of illegal alcoholic beverages. Most of the alcohol disposed of did not have the legal manufacturers documentation and product labelling.
“As you can see, these alcohol bottles don’t have A or B on the labels. According to the Liquor Products Act, every alcoholic packaging must have A or B. A means manufactured within South Africa and B means manufactured outside South Africa. But they are using fake stickers and this alcohol gets sold in spaza shops and other places. You can’t sell pop up, according to the Liquor Products Act, all alcohol must be properly labelled and boxed,” remarked one of the officials.
The operation above demonstrates the value government attaches to the liquor industry and consumers in general.
