Government is facing increased pressure from business, labour and provincial governments to ease some of South Africa’s level 3 lockdown restrictions.
President Cyril Ramaphosa convened a President’s Coordinating Council (PCC) this weekend, with a cabinet meeting scheduled to discuss developments on Wednesday (3 February).
While each sector is likely to raise individual concerns with government around the opening of the economy and saving lives, the issue of alcohol sales appears to be a key focus.
The sale of alcohol was banned in South Africa on 29 December in an effort to relieve pressure on hospitals and stop the spread of the second wave of Covid-19 infections.
News24 reported that discussions are now underway in several government departments to consider the possibility of lifting South Africa’s alcohol ban as infection rates ease.
The opening of beaches, the evening curfew and concerns around the opening of schools are also issues which have been raised and the government is likely to consider.
Unions
Last week, Trade federation Cosatu called on government to lift the temporary prohibition on the sale of alcohol in South Africa and instead move towards more permanent changes.
The federation said that it supported the temporary banning of the sale of alcohol under alert lockdown level 3 to enable government healthcare institutions and law enforcement structures to focus on dealing with the rising rate of Covid-19 infections.
However, it said that its position is to save both lives and livelihoods, and that close to a million workers livelihoods depend on the sale of alcohol.
These range from farmworkers to distilleries, manufacturers, distributors and retailers, restaurants, and bars, it said.
“The current ban on the sale of alcohol has been devastating, and a prolonged ban would place their survival at risk. We simply cannot afford to lose any jobs or businesses. The ban and other lockdown restrictions should always be treated as temporary interventions.
“The total banning of alcohol is not a solution and lazy and populist politicians who advocate for such are misguided. ”
Businesses
The call to lift alcohol sales has been echoed by the liquor industry and restaurants which have been devastated by the loss of income.
Alongside the suspension of 550 temporary contract workers, South African Breweries (SAB) cut overall staff salaries by 10% and cancelled R5 billion in investments.
The Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) has also warned of untold damage to the restaurant industry as a result of the current lockdown restrictions in place.
The group has warned that thousands of restaurants face closure in the country if the restrictions around the sale of alcohol and the evening curfew are not lifted.
The South African Liquor Brand owners Association (SALBA) says the most recent data on South Africa’s Covid-19 hospitalisations point to a steady decline, indicating that the latest ban has done its job.
Sibani Mngadi, chairperson of SALBA, said the drop in infections was good news for the country and provides government with an opportunity to urgently reverse its decision to prohibit alcohol sales.
“Available data does not back government’s argument that the current prohibition of sale of alcohol is being maintained to preserve the maximum capacity in the health system to handle a surge in Covid-19 admissions,” said Mngadi.
Mngadi added that it was now time for the government to roll back the prohibition to limit further losses of jobs and revenue for the sector.
“With the first two bans, alcohol excise tax contribution to government declined by more than 28% from R47 billion in 2019/20 to R34 billion in 2020/21.
“This R13 billion loss in alcohol tax revenue could have easily compensated for the investment needed in procurement of vaccines and other measures needed to curb the impact of Covid-19 on our society,” said Mngadi.
Western Cape government
The level 3 lockdown restrictions are also being keenly felt at a provincial level, with Western Cape premier Alan Winde indicating that he has written to Ramaphosa to ease restrictions.
In a digital press conference last week, Winde said that the province has continued to see a decline in the major Covid-19 indicators in the province- including hospitalisations, deaths, the virus reproductive number, test positivity rate, active infections, health worker infections and oxygen use in our facilities.
“All of these are clear and consistent signs that we have passed the peak of our second wave. Our healthcare teams remain on high alert and our health teams and health care workers continue to work hard to manage the pandemic, and to save lives,” he said.
He said that the Western Cape has requested that some of the restrictions around the sale alcohol, the curfew and the opening of beaches are relaxed.
“We must ensure that we protect those agri-workers, drivers, waiters, hotel staff, tour guides retail staff and their families who rely on their jobs in these industries to feed themselves and their families.
“We have done this because we believe that we must maintain the balance between saving lives and saving livelihoods.
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Source: businesstech
