Pleas for liquor traders to stick to rules

The Beer Association of South Africa’s chief executive, Patricia Pillay, said the industry remains unsure about whether alcohol will be banned again, but it intends to ensure that alcohol is sold and consumed under the strictest safety conditions as the country experiences a second wave of Covid-19 infections.

Cape Town band GoodLuck has offered an apology after footage of them allegedly performing to 155 people, dancing without masks at an unspecified La Parada restaurant on Sunday.

“Since then a video has been circulating of an unmasked crowd dancing to our music with Jules singing on a table, and we would like to unreservedly apologise for how it looked and the part that we had to play in that situation,” the band said on Facebook.

“This was a limited, seated outdoor event that was adhering to the regulations and was organised by the venue…”

The band said customers were supposed to have stayed at their tables throughout the event.

“These rules were largely adhered to until the last [three] minutes [the final song] of our show where … everyone got very excited and started to jump around between the tables as seen in the video,” the band stated.

“We should have stopped the music and instructed everyone to go back to their tables but we were right at the end of the show mid song, but the moment got away from us.”

Pillay reiterated the alcohol industry could not afford a total ban, warning government of the dire economic impact due to likely job losses in the industry.

“While it is imperative we do all we can to stop the spread of Covid-19 during the upcoming holiday period, it is also critical we safeguard the close to 415 000 jobs that depend on the beer industry as well as the one million livelihoods supported across the alcohol value chain.

“The previous alcohol bans and prolonged restrictions on the trade of alcohol saw an estimated 7 400 jobs lost, R14.2 billion in lost sales revenue and more than R7.4 billion loss in taxes and excise duties in the beer industry alone.”

Liquor Traders Association convener Lucky Ntimane called on traders to comply with regulations and consumers to call the Consumer Goods Council hotline (0800-014-856).

– molefes@citizen.co.za; additional reporting Amanda Watson

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