Tobacco group vows legal action over ban
Liquor traders await guidelines
AGGRIEVED members of the Fair Trade Tobacco Association (Fita) have vowed to challenge President Cyril Ramaphosa’s latest decision to continue banning the sale of cigarettes.
Ramaphosa announced his decision on Sunday. Today, he is due to provide Fita with the minutes of the National Command Council on Coronavirus meeting on their sudden decision to overturn the lifting of the ban on cigarettes earlier this month.
On May 12, Fita obtained a court order instructing Ramaphosa to provide it with details of the initial decision before both parties square off in the High Court in Pretoria, where Fita wants the court to declare the ban illegal and unlawful.
Yesterday, Fita chairperson Sinenhlanhla Mnguni said his association was very disappointed with the president’s decision.
“We were not consulted. There was no engagement with our sector, which contributes billions to the economy. After the initial announcement of the lockdown draft regulation that recommended the lifting of the ban, the government invited people to comment on it.
“About 2 000 comments were received and they decided to overturn the decision. But they did not bother to consult us before making the recent decision,” Mnguni said.
He emphasised that they were going ahead with their court challenge, saying the government had until today to provide them with the minutes of the meeting that set aside the decision to lift the ban on the sale of cigarettes.
“Our application was supposed to be heard on June 2 before Judge Basson.
“We have received a new directive that the matter will now be heard before a full Bench of the High Court. We expected it will be postponed by just a few days,” Mnguni said.
Meanwhile, liquor traders are waiting for the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel, to provide them with guidelines on the off-sale trading of alcoholic beverages before opening their doors on June 1.
However, the liquor brand owners have warned that compressed operating hours could lead to overcrowding at outlets.
Liquor traders are hoping that amicable terms will be reached with the government to regulate the sale of alcohol after the lifting of the ban on Sunday by Ramaphosa.
The president said alcohol may be sold for home consumption but only under strict conditions, on specified days and for limited hours.
“Announcements in this regard will be made once we have concluded discussions with the sector on the various conditions,” Ramaphosa said.
Speculation, however, is rife that the government wants liquor traders to sell their goods under strict regulations from Monday to Thursday. No sales, according to insiders, will be allowed over weekends.
The government, according to insiders, is of the view that most violent and heinous crimes are committed over weekends while perpetrators are under the influence of alcohol.
Kurt Moore, the chief executive of the SA Liquor Brand Owners Association (Salba), said the industry welcomed the move that would result in an opening up of the economy.
Moore, however, said that compressed operating hours could lead to overcrowding at outlets.
“Industry associations, Salba, the Beer Association of South Africa (Basa) and Vinpro have worked tirelessly with the Department of Trade and Industry and Competition, and presented several proposals. These included safety protocols for the off-consumption and trading of alcohol, including e-commerce, and also addressed transmission risks across the value chain and solutions to enable the safety of the workforce, suppliers, retailers, and consumers. We look forward to ironing out the details.”
Vinpro chief executive Rico Basson said players in the alcohol industry had been operating for more than eight weeks with zero income.
Basson said an estimated 117 600 jobs have been lost throughout the industry, and 13% of the craft beer sector was in the process of closing shop, while the wine industry was in severe distress.