Kaya 959 Reporter
The alcohol industry has warned of another alcohol ban over the coming festive season.
With the increasing rise in infection across the country, a new variant detected; the industry is on high alert of the drastic impact another lockdown will have on thee industry.
With December being a time when the alcohol industry expects some recovery for the tourism and hospitality sector, another shutdown of liquor sales will serve as the final nail in the coffin for thousands of businesses/citizens who just barely survived the previous bans.
Kaya Biz with Gugulethu Mfuphi spoke to Patricia Pillay, CEO of the Beer Association of South Africa on the challenges the industry has been facing since the emergence of the COVID 19 virus.
“We’ve always asked for was the any decision should be based on proper data and science.”
“We’ve always asked for that data before decisions gets made.What we are hoping for is that, if we set a benchmark, in terms of the expectation of hearing roomers, instead if us hearing on a Sunday night during the president’s address.”
“To know upfront on how we could monitor the cases, we know on what criteria is being used to lock us down.”
“We are not living on the edge of our seats overtime there is a spike in numbers.” – she said.
Also Read: Liquor outlets are asking for money from the government
The previous alcohol ban resulted in an estimated annualised loss to the GDP of R60.7 billion, which the country couldn’t afford.
The impact of lockdown restrictions
The Beer Association of South Africa (Basa) on Friday launched a High Court review application to declare three previous bans irrational, invalid and set them aside. It said the government had failed to take into account the devastating impact of the bans on the alcohol industry
Also Read: Liquor council says alcohol ban should be guided by scientific evidence
“We hope sanity will prevail and that everyone in the system, the courts, government, everyone can come together and realize that this is not sustainable.
“You cannot continue to lockdown an industry, you cannot continue to shutdown the economy, we close to 50% unemployment in this country, it is rising everyday. It is not a sustainable way to threaten a whole industry and not to consult with that industry.”
“We need to also deal with the social issues of alcohol, it’s societal problem, that what we need to be focusing our attention on. Also, we need to promote people getting vaccinated, promoting people getting tested.” – says Pillay
