Alcohol industry reflects on ban reinstatement
The release further stated that during the nine week lockdown, the alcohol industry lost R18 billion in revenue and R3.4 billion in excise tax.
The South African alcohol industry is disappointed with the decision to reinstate prohibition of sale of alcohol with immediate effect from Monday, 13 July.
According to the release, the alcohol industry has engaged continuously with the government and especially the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition over the past month regarding the efforts put in place to ensure compliance with regulations as well as adherence to the safety protocols in formal retail and taverns.
The release stated, “President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to reinstate the nation-wide ban on the sales, dispensing, and distribution of alcohol with immediate effect is deeply troubling. The industry shares the government’s concerns regarding the increase in Covid-19 infections and will continue to support efforts to curb this unprecedented health emergency.”
“This includes prioritising lives and safeguarding livelihoods across the sector during this pandemic while ensuring that we adhere to safety, responsible trading, and the sensible consumption of alcohol. We will continue to offer unanimous support in placing its assets at the availability of Government in fighting this pandemic. We reiterate our commitment to partner with government to create a social compact that drives behavioural change regarding the use and consumption of alcohol. The industry has initiated contact with the government in this regard on 6 July and we are awaiting a response.
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“The liquor industry has a wide and deep value chain employing almost one million people across the country. The Government’s decision has serious economic consequences, placing hundreds of thousands of livelihoods at risk. The hardest hit will be the significant number of smaller retailers and taverners. The immediate enforcement of the ban will have other unintended consequences, which includes further job losses throughout the value chain.”
The release further stated that during the nine week lockdown, the alcohol industry lost R18 billion in revenue and R3.4 billion in excise tax.
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“The industry recognises the need to balance the risk to lives with maintaining livelihoods. In addition to the economic consequences that threaten livelihoods, the contribution by the industry to the focus will be severely compromised, at a time when tax revenue is coming under increased pressure. While we acknowledge the urgency of the situation, it is crucial to understand the complexity of alcohol-related trauma so that we can sharpen our focus on the most effective interventions and also measure their impact against a shared understanding of the facts and the problems. This requires access to health and alcohol related information in private and public sector hospitals and clinics which government has never shared with industry. We believe that a more useful approach would be targeting problematic drinking to manage and achieve long-term, lasting changes. The regulation imposed has a significant negative economic impact and could have been designed in a less damaging manner, but with the same alleviation of the impact on the healthcare system. We reiterate our commitment to partner with the Government to create a social compact. In this way, we can work together to create a social compact that not only works to save lives but also preserve livelihoods.”
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