The alcohol industry says it will allocate at least R150m towards assisting the government to ease pressures on the health-care system after the lifting of the ban on alcohol sales.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Saturday that the sale of liquor and tobacco will resume at midnight on Monday, August 17 as the country moves to level two of the lockdown. This follows much criticism and outcry from the alcohol and related industries amid fears the ban could lead to huge job losses. The alcohol industry contributes about 3% to GDP.
“The liquor industry confirmed it is willing to ensure enhanced resources, including funds, people and time, are available to assist the government in dealing with the burden on the public health-care system,” Kurt Moore, CEO of the South African Liquor Brandowners Association (Salba) said in statement on Saturday.
While a budget has not yet been finalised, Salba spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said the industry will set aside at least R150m towards initiatives aimed at addressing the challenges related to the excessive consumption of alcohol.
Salba said the industry's initiatives will be directed at addressing drinking and driving, underage drinking, heavy episodic drinking and gender-based violence.
Mngadi said this includes establishing blood processing centres across SA to fast-track the processing of blood samples for prosecution purposes. These centres are expected to cost about R1.5m each.
“We believe that there is a capacity issue in government laboratories regarding the processing of blood samples,” Mngadi said. “For underage drinking, we are still in the conceptualisation stage. The idea is to try and find a way to enforce some form of age verification, which is still in discussion.”
“For gender-based violence, we already have the ‘No Excuse’ campaign where we raise awareness and direct people in terms of services they can receive. The idea is to begin to finance or support NGOs that are providing support to victims of abuse,” he said.
As part of its plans to assist the government in dealing with the spread of Covid-19, the industry will assist with the distribution of personal protective equipment focusing on Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, which have recorded the most Covid-19 cases.
Paarl-based agricultural association VinPro said: “The industry is committed to ramping up its social awareness programmes and behavioural change interventions.
“These efforts include vigorous responsible messaging and a mass communication campaign aimed at helping communities in the fight against the spread of Covid-19.”
VinPro represents 3,500 SA wine producers, cellars and industry stakeholders.
Lucky Ntimane, convener of the National Liquor Traders Council said: “We will continue to roll out innovations such as the ‘click-and-collect’ apps to help reduce queues, improve social distancing and make it safer for consumers to order and collect their purchases.”
The National Liquor Traders Council represents about 34,000 tavern owners in SA.
The ban on the sale of alcohol has wreaked havoc in the R140bn alcohol industry since March. South African Breweries, owned by AB InBev, withdrew investment plans worth R5bn and Heineken said it would rethink its expansion plans in SA. Glass manufacturer Consol suspended the construction of a new R1.5bn plant in Ekurhuleni.
The liquor industry accounts for more than 80% of sales in the local glass manufacturing industry.
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