Raising a glass to supporters’ sporting spirit
When you look at how leaders of some of the most developed nations, such as the USA and the UK, have totally messed up the management of their economies during the first half-year, you can be tempted to feel that our government has done relatively well. Brushing aside some nonsensical regulations, you feel a certain sympathy for a struggling government, manning institutions and departments hollowed-out by a decade of intense corruption, caught in the headlights of this Covid juggernaut. Cyril Ramaphosa certainly would score lower on my lunatic scale than Donald Trump or Boris Johnson (though his various ministers might not).
Of the most nefarious aspects of the South African government’s Covid lockdowns was the inexplicable banning of exporting of wines, giving us the distinction of being the only producing nation on the planet to so publicly sabotage its own wine industry. If you imagine a blueprint to initiate the complete demise of the South African wine industry, you need not deviate far from the government’s actual game plan.
Coming back to the domestic market ban on the sale of alcohol, the government did not think very far ahead in terms of the international trade implications. Spirits and wine producers were by now grasping on to the revenue lifeline of export markets, while all alcohol sales were banned within – including those of our foreign trading partners. Creating an unlawful imbalance in bilateral trade agreements, such as with the EU – the sale of French cognac or Polish vodka was banned here, while our products enjoyed a free market in Europe, at each turn, exposing our industry to sanctions overseas and ruin at home.
Among the most heartening and unexpected reactions have been the voluminous outpourings of support internationally, from major buyers of UK supermarkets to online retailers in the US. Such a spirit of camaraderie is not something one expects from the likes of big UK supermarkets, so our government must really have crossed a line to elicit such a reaction. It does seem that we are held in higher regard overseas than we are by our leaders here in South Africa. That has probably been the silver lining for our industry: The spirit of camaraderie and support shown by our adversaries, keeping us in the game, while set upon by our own management.