SA must save hospitality industry

THE government should reconsider its stance of preventing restaurants from serving alcohol with meals in order to save millions of jobs in the hospitality sector and help stimulate the ailing economy.

The regulations, published on Friday by Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, do not allow the sale of alcohol for on-site consumption with meals. It also requires restaurants to serve only 50 patrons or 50% capacity, whichever is the smaller.

Under the new regulations, restaurants are required to implement strict health protocols and physical distancing measures.

While all these are important measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, the government has not explained how the consumption of alcohol on the premises would contribute to the transmission of Covid-19.

There is also the economic imperative that the government needs to take into account.

Wendy Alberts, of the Restaurant Association of SA, has captured the essence of what many establishments are going through at this moment.

“Restaurants are dying by the dozens already and the industry has experienced massive retrenchments. We need to return to business as normal,” said Alberts.

This is a desperate call for help from an organisation that employs millions of people across the country. We hear from the industry stakeholders that several restaurants have already closed down permanently. There is the danger that these regulations might sound the death knell for the entire restaurant sector.

The government has a responsibility to ensure that this does not happen, and that the revival of the hospitality sector, after the devastating economic impact of the lockdown, starts almost immediately.

While the industry has threatened legal action, we believe that it is not averse to negotiations and compromise.

The challenge is, therefore, for the state to revisit the regulations and examine what can be done to ensure that these measures don’t lead to the complete destruction of the entire industry.

The ball is in their court.