The ban on alcohol leaves industry players crying foul

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The liquor industry was one of the most dominant and resilient industries in South Africa, but it was badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. They had to deal with the ever-changing levels of the lockdown and restrictions. This has caused loss of revenue, job losses and liquor traders to close down and lose business.

So far, the industry has suffered four alcohol bans as part of the lockdown restrictions. The alcohol ban has affected negatively even on the country’s economy as it is one of the industries that make a lot of money. In a statement released by SALBA, CEO, Kurt Moore explained the impact that the bans had on the economy. https://salba.co.za/salba-welcomes-partial-lifting-of-alcohol-ban/

“These bans are harmful to both government and business revenue and they are serious threat to jobs. 248,759 jobs are still at risk across the industry – about 1.59% of the national total of formal and informal employment for 2020. In addition, the alcohol industry lost 161 days of trading between 26 March 2020 to 25 July 2021 due to government’s alcohol ban. Even before the cost of the recent looting to the alcohol industry is factored in, the four alcohol bans have already cost the country’s GDP an estimated R64.8bn or 1.3% of GDP,” he said.

Sherryn Schooling, Senior Director, Strategic Communications at FTI Consulting said that the economy’s performance has affected the industry. The economic impact has been the biggest strain for the industry, and we have outlined the unintended consequences of prohibition in the rise of illicit trade as a direct result of the alcohol bans.,” she said.

Liquor traders have found themselves in difficult situations due to the restrictions. “We found ourselves in situations where we had a lot of stock and nowhere to move it to. We had stock that we had bought and invested our money into, and we had to keep it all to ourselves,” said a liquor trader in Daveyton in Johannesburg.

He continued to explain that the lockdown did not help them in any way because they experienced a decline in sales and some even lost their businesses. He stated that since the lockdown began, people have not focused their attention on liquor traders because they insinuate that they will survive easily, but that is not the case.

Not only did it affect the liquor traders, but the consumers were also affected by the bans of alcohol. Sibusiso Msiza from Soweto explained his concerns regarding the lockdown and the restrictions on alcohol, “alcohol is not accessible easily as it was before. It is now only sold under certain levels of the lockdown.”

He continued to say that there is a time limit to which liquor can be purchased so if one knocks off late, they cannot buy it.