POLOKWANE – The South African Liquor Brandowners Association (Salba) is concerned about the prohibition of off-consumption sales on Saturday and Sunday.
The association’s chairperson Sibani Mngadi in a statement said government has failed to justify the decision. “We have approached the Ministerial Advisory Council and government representatives at Nedlac. None of them have been able to provide any justification for this or some scientific evidence to support the decision.”
He said the association welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Sunday, which allows gatherings to be increased and a later implementation of a curfew.
Read more: Beer association welcomes president’s easing of lockdown regulations
“The president’s announcement to shift the curfew to 23:00 and increase gatherings to 250 indoor and 500 outdoor, is a positive step to support the recovery of bars, restaurants and tavern businesses,” he added.
Mngadi said they, however, remain concerned about the continued prohibition of off-consumption sales over the weekend. “The restrictions had only encouraged the illicit alcohol industry and further damaged the legitimate enterprises struggling under the weight of these irrational measures. It had also damaged the supply chain,” he explained.
Mngadi cited the recent unemployment figures and said they cannot be ignored. “The recent unemployment figures is an accumulation of unfortunate decisions to shutdown economic activities over that past year, including four total bans of alcohol sales,” he added.
Salba CEO Kurt Moore feels it is time to drive the recovery of the economy of the country. “We need to sustain the marginal GDP growth of 1.2% announced by Stats SA last month. Critical to the sustainability of the relaxed regulations is our commitment to support the government in improving vaccine uptake.”
Also read: Health MEC speaks on prohibiting alcohol sales to the unvaccinated
Moore explained that the industry initially focused on vaccinating their employees, and added that the industry will expand to ‘support broader societal efforts to reach herd immunity’ with the hope to return the economic activity to some level of normality.
“We commend the Department of Health and we are committed to supporting the efforts to expand immunisation even further through our industry infrastructure and brand properties.”
