Mounting pressure on govt to declare a state of emergency

The shops of more than 200 alcohol traders were looted during the violent unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng over the past week. 

Lucky Ntimane, who is with the National Liquor Traders Council, says hundreds of stores were targeted because of the lack of police and army support. 

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He says they've lost millions of rands worth of stock at warehouses and shops. 

"The tavern owners that are being robbed off their stock will be unable to trade well and if the ban was lifted. 

"The livelihoods of our members and those that are dependant on the alcohol industry and certainly the tavern sector are smashed and the township economy to go with that where much of the looting has occurred."

He's urged the government to lift the ban on alcohol sales to prevent a total collapse of the industry. 

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"The government has opted to pursue that only served and entrench the illegal market. That illegal market is now in danger of becoming a prominent feature of the past pandemic economy."