The ban on selling hot food is inherently irrational – Sakeliga

It’s official: it is now against the law to sell hot food during the lockdown.

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Monday published an amendment to the lockdown regulations gazetted last month, in terms of which she excluded “cooked hot food” from the list of essential goods allowed to be sold over this period.

Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel last week told journalists that retailers were not supposed to be operating their hot food sections during the lockdown, prompting a widespread uproar.

Business organisation Sakeliga on Friday last week wrote to Patel, urging him to reconsider his stance or risk court action. It pointed out that the regulations did not – at that stage – expressly prohibit the sale of hot food.

In another statement on Monday, Sakeliga said the amendment was “clearly drafted over the weekend as part of a strategy to avoid a legal challenge on the issue”.

The organisation’s legal analyst, Daniel du Plessis, said: “Minister Patel’s legal representatives [on Sunday] informed our attorneys that they are waiting on a legal opinion before they will respond to our demand.

“It is, however, now clear that an amendment was already in the process of being signed off by the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, at the time of the sending of the letter to our attorneys.”

Sakeliga said it was referring the matter to its legal team.

“Even though the regulations have been amended to expressly ban the sale of warm, cooked foods, Sakeliga believes the regulations may be inherently irrational,” it said in its statement.

“Thousands of people, especially essential service providers such as supermarket staff, maintenance workers and medical workers rely on warm, prepared food on a daily basis.

“Government has yet to explain why they consider the sale of hot food to present a high-risk in the spread of the Covid-19 virus.”

Charity organisation Solidarity Helping Hand has also weighed in on the issue, highlighting that “numerous elderly people depend on delivered prepared meals”.

“Prepared meals sold by chain stores and private businesses are often considered to be a luxury.

“However, for many people such as the elderly, individuals and families living below the breadline, these meals are the only, nutritious, balanced meals they can afford per day as there are many chain stores and other business enterprises that provide affordable hot meals,” social worker Elsha Hermann said in a statement on Monday.

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