Alcohol industry urges public to observe Covid-19 restrictions, avoid illicit alcohol

The South African Liquor Brandowners Association (SALBA) welcomed the general positive behavior amongst South Africans over the New Year weekend in compliance with Lockdown Level 3 regulations that came into effect following the address by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 28 December 2020.

Sibani Mngadi, SALBA chairman, said that a large number of South Africans observed the current regulations that are in place for 14 days to curb the rise in infections, hospital admissions and mortality as a result of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our observation is that many South Africans stayed at home during this period in line with the extended curfew of 9pm to 6am, leading to the reduction in the potential injuries arising from interpersonal and group interaction at night, movement of traffic and other risk factors for trauma.

“We urge the public to travel safely as the large number of people return from holidays and continue to observe lockdown regulations, particularly the mandatory wearing of face masks when in public places. This is critical to our country’s effort to flatten the curve of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Mngadi said.

While many consumers would have stocked alcoholic drinks ahead of the New Year, Mngadi said, there have been no concerns about compliance with the ban on drinking in public.

“Under the current circumstances where we need to curtail all forms of gathering to slowdown the spread of infections, home consumption remains the safe option for those who chose to consume alcohol.

In addition to reducing the exposure of Covid-19 infections, home consumption also reduces the risk of drinking and driving which is historically prevalent during the festive season,” said Mngadi.

While there is largely compliance by the general public, SALBA urged law enforcement agencies to be rigorous in dealing with illegal alcohol sales and the production of counterfeit products.

Total prohibition of all formal sales poses the risk of growing the network of alcohol smugglers who respond to the current environment of unmet consumer demand for alcoholic products.

These illegal activities include concealed, illegal movement of products as well as industrial scale production of counterfeit alcohol.

One of SALBA’s member-companies reported an armed robbery at the company’s production facility in Durban on 30 December [two days into the current alcohol sales ban] where thousands of bottle closures (caps) were stolen. One of the illicit alcohol practices is to refill used, branded bottles with illegal alcohol, reseal them and sell that to consumers. This practice poses a major health risk to consumers,” said Mngadi.

According to the study by Euromonitor, the alcohol industry loses R12,9 billion in gross revenue per year to illicit trade, which converts to a loss of R6,4 billion in alcohol tax contribution to the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that at 24 percent of alcohol market in South Africa is illicit. The legal alcohol sector contributes R72 billion to the Government’s fiscus by way of taxation, VAT and excise and in 2019, the alcohol sector contributed 3,4 percent (R173 billion) of South Africa’s nominal GDP.