Cheers but not quite for alcohol industry

On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africans would be able to buy alcohol from the 1 June, but only for consumption at home. 

But consumers will only be able to buy their drinks on certain days and at certain times. 

Speaking on behalf of industry associations - South African Liquor Brand Owners Association and VinPro which represents wine producers - Beer Association of South Africa CEO, Patricia Pillay says they anticipate large crowds at bottle stores - which will pose social distancing challenges.

"We have compressed trading hours that will then just aggravate the situation. So our proposal to government is a plea to extend the hours if we do need to have limited days.

"I think that we can live with that but if we are going to at least extend the hours, so we don't have the incident like we did with the exercising where you had everybody suddenly now out on the streets."

Government is expected to release more details this week on the reopening of the industry.

Pillay says the impact of the ban - which has lasted over two months - has been devastating and is a loss to the fiscus.

"We estimated 117 600 jobs that have already been lost, 13% of the craft beer sector is already in the process of shutting up shop, and the wine industry is also in severe distress. 

"I think everyone is seeing the devastating photograph of 6.5 million litres of beer that's been thrown down the drain literally which is equivalent to 20 million bottles of beer."

Pillay says they have plans to help some of the businesses to put safety measures in place ahead of the resumption of trade.

She says they'll be providing the necessary support to businesses that are starting up - so they'll be able to trade while keeping employees and customers safe. 

The associations say they've also been working with taverns to make sure the 34 500 establishments across the country trade safely and legally. 

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