SAB gets green light to transport beer to depots
The Department of Cooperative Governance has granted South African Breweries (SAB) permission to transport thousands of litres of beer for safekeeping at its depots.
This comes after the company said would had to dispose of thousands of litres of beer, which can only be stored at depots, due to lockdown regulations.
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The sale and transportation of alcohol is forbidden under the current lockdown regulations.
The department’s spokesperson Mlungisi Mtshali says SAB will not be allowed to manufacture any more beer during the lockdown.
"We have agreed that SAB would not produce any more product during lockdown and we developed a plan to ensure that the SAB to move their merchandise from the breweries for safe storage at their depots."
SAB has welcomed the agreement, saying this will end up saving jobs.
"To overcome the problem, SAB has collaborated with various ministries and reached an agreement which will enable the company to transport its beer inventory over the course of the next few weeks and to avoid losses in excise tax for the government to the value of R500m.