Illicit booze trade ‘will flourish’

Fears by the alcohol industry yesterday over panic buying should President Cyril Ramaphosa clamp down on alcohol sales were nullified when he cancelled the sale of alcohol effective immediately during his nationwide address last night.

“When we had the nineweek lockdown over 100 000 jobs in the industry were lost,” Patricia Pillay, CEO of Beer Association of South Africa told eNCA last night. “A lot of small businesses shut down. Over 35 000 township businesses are going to be bankrupt.

“Besides this, we also have issue that this industry will move into the illicit market, which is very concerning.

“There’s no point in putting a Band Aid over it. We need to deal with the systemic issues with alcohol abuse. As South Africans we have a problem with the way we use the substance – and abuse it. We don’t believe a ban is the right way to deal with the problem.

“All South Africans will do is get it from an illegal source,” she added.

“We would like to engage with the president, his advisors, his teams and ministers, and find a way to work together as an industry and government and deal with what the issue really is.”

In an earlier statement – supported by the South African Liquor Brandowners’ Association (Salba), the Beer Association of South Africa (Basa), VinPro, Liquor Traders Association of South Africa (LTASA) and the Liquor Traders Council of South Africa (LTCSA) – the industry warned a further ban on sales would affect the income of up to one million people.

“After an initial liquor stock-up that lasted two weeks, liquor sales have started slowing recently and the share of spend has dropped to below what it was last year,” the statement read.

On Friday, The Presidency shared social posts on announcing hotels, lodges and guest houses could accommodate tourists – and not only business travellers.

These were deleted, after the presidency said the posts were made in error, and accommodation should not be open for travel yet.

This week, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said an increase in alcohol-related trauma cases was putting a strain on hospitals.