DA calls for unbanning of ‘nonessential’ goods in retail stores

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for an end to arbitrary limitations on what can be sold in stores that are operating during the lockdown.

“The confusion around what are considered ‘essential items’ in grocery stores, pharmacies and the like, is unhelpful and should be ended,” said DA MP Dean Macpherson in a statement on Saturday.

Macpherson said he would write to Minister of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel to request him to recommend gazetting that all stores open during the lockdown be able to sell anything that would normally be in their stores.

“It is illogical and makes no sense for instance that a store at a petrol station is not allowed to sell pies or that a grocery store is not allowed to sell prepared, warm food.

“We have seen even more ridiculous examples of this in this week of lockdown, such as retail stores closing their magazine and snacks shelves and mothers of newborn babies not being able to buy clothes for their babies,” he said.

Macpherson said that across the country, law enforcement officials were often being allowed sole discretion to interpret these regulations as they saw fit, which was having huge consequences for many people, from urban to rural settings.

He said any item, from hygiene products to electronics, found in a retailer that was allowed to be open should be available for sale to consumers.

“Once existing stock is sold out, then these items won’t be replenished until after the lockdown. The bottom line is that any good found in a store that is already open under current regulations should be allowed for sale.

“However, this does not include the sale of liquor, which is prohibited during this time in terms of Section 27,(2)i of the Disaster Management Act of 2002,” Macpherson said.

He said the DA supported the regulations as they believed alcohol sales could encourage people to make irresponsible decisions or congregate in social groups during the lockdown.

“We do not believe the same rationale can be applied to cigarettes, and the DA therefore includes cigarettes in our call for all goods currently in stores open to the public to be for sale.

“It appears on the face of it that there is no obstacle in law to allowing citizens the free choice to buy whatever they may find in store,” he said.

Macpherson said the arbitrary restrictions were also incredibly damaging for everyone from big retailers to spaza shops who were being forced to sit on stock they could not sell in an already challenging economic time.

“Nine days into South Africa’s lockdown, it is time that we start thinking clearly and rationally about the plethora of regulations that our people are subject to and that we start simplifying them in the best interest of South Africans and our economy,” the MP concluded.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.