Calls for SAB to withdraw legal challenge to booze ban

During his address to the nation on Monday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa extended the current lockdown regulations, keeping the country on level 3.

Under the extended regulations, the sale of alcohol from retail outlets and the on-site consumption of alcohol is still not be permitted.

SAAPA director Maurice Smithers called on all South Africans to support the decision.

“We fully support the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that the current suspension of the transportation and sale of alcohol under extended Level 3 of the State of Disaster response to the Covid-19 pandemic will continue until 15 February.

“We believe that the South African government and the National Coronavirus Command Council would not have taken this decision lightly and that they considered all relevant factors relating to the saving of both lives and livelihoods before doing so. We call on all South Africans to support and honour this decision and not to do anything to subvert it,” says Smithers.

He also called on the South African Breweries (SAB) to withdraw their legal challenge against government’s decision.

“We call on SAB to honour that call and, instead of dividing the country through its ill-advised court action, to devote its efforts and resources to getting government support for the many small enterprises in the alcohol sector who are suffering economic hardship as a result of the State of Disaster.

“We also call on the company and its international partner, AB InBev, to stop paying celebrities to support their campaign against government's decisions and instead to use their vast resources to support those same enterprises until the pandemic is over. The priority right now is to save lives, not profits, to support government's efforts, not undermine them," he says.

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