RAMAPHOSA ON LIQUOR SALES BAN: 'It's impossible to please everyone'

JOHANNESBURG - Hard choices must be made, and it's impossible to please everyone, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said in an affidavit filed in the Western Cape High Court this week.

Ramaphosa was responding to a legal challenge by South African Breweries (SAB) and others to a recent ban on the sale of alcohol.

In his affidavit, the president backed Cabinet's decisions as well as the contents of an earlier affidavit filed by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana DlaminiZuma.

Ramaphosa

National said the Coronavirus

Command Council (NCCC) is not a decision-making body – rather, it coordinates the government's response, which is based on in-depth discussions from many perspectives.

"I cannot do justice to the debates and discussions that occur in the NCCC and Cabinet, which have markedly improved our collective response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Different ministers would argue for the perspective of their departments, only to have other ministers identify unexpected consequences… Hard choices must be made, and it is impossible to please everyone."

In anticipation of the second wave of the pandemic, measures were adopted by government aimed at "achieving the intricate balance between the preservation of life on the one hand, and the preservation of livelihood on the other," Ramaphosa said.

It was also important to remember that it was December, and the people of the country had had an exceptionally hard year, he added. Government has faced challenges to its ban on the sale of liquor by both winemakers body Vinpro and SAB (alongside other applicants). In both cases, despite the easing of restrictions, the challenges appear to be going ahead. – FIN24.