The CEO of the Beer Association of South Africa Ms Patricia Pillay says 30 percent of the country’s local breweries have permanently closed since alcohol bans were implemented last year as part of the government’s COVID-19 control measures.
Ms Pillay said the recent extension of adjusted the level three lockdown, which further prohibits the sale and distribution of alcohol, could be the final nail in the battered sector.
“Already, 30 percent of local breweries have been forced to permanently shut their doors and 165,000 people have already lost their jobs. An extended ban on alcohol will destroy many of the remaining small businesses while doing untold economic damage to the beer sector in general, and the 415,000 livelihoods it supports,” said Ms Pillay.
She said the booze ban had resulted in more than 100,000 people sliding into poverty.
“It is a great shame that government has embarked on this action with very little consultation and very little thought given to their plight. We are well aware of the immense pressure COVID-19 has placed on our health-care system and the need for urgent interventions to curb the spread of the virus, however, this cannot be at the expense of people’s livelihoods.”
In his address to the nation on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the ban was necessary and would remain in place until the country passed its peak of new infections.
Meanwhile, the alcohol industry has asked for another deferment of excise tax payments until the booze ban is lifted.
This follows another deferment request for July and August 2020. The bill amounted to R2,5 billion (about US$164 million), which the industry duly paid in October of that year after the alcohol ban was briefly lifted. The industry pays the South Africa Revenue Authority about R2,5 billion (about US$82 million) monthly in excise tax.
At a Tuesday webinar, director of monitoring complaints at the Department of Trade and Industry, Ms Amanda Lotheringen, said the government had lost R7,8 billion (US$510 million) in direct tax and R5,8 billion (about US$380 million) in excise tax due to the ban.
However, the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance (SAAPA) has called on all South Africans to support the booze ban; and urged South African Breweries to withdraw its legal challenge on the measure.
The alliance said the government and the National Coronavirus Command Council had not reached the decision lightly, and there was need to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods.