President Cyril Ramaphosa has emphatically denied a request from the Gauteng Liquor Forum to ease the restrictions on the sale of alcohol during the nationwide lockdown.
In the letter Ramaphosa denied the request, saying that the ban on alcohol sales was in line with the government's measures to address the pandemic.
“During the discussions held this week, the National Command Council, cabinet and the president carefully considered inputs from all relevant sectors and experts in fields including financial, social, economic, scientific and medical. Having done so, the decision was taken not to ease the restrictions on the sale of alcohol during the lockdown,” the letter to the forum read.The sale of alcohol is self-evidently not an essential service.
The letter continued that, should the spread of Covid-19 — the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus — not be curtailed, then it was those the forum represented who would be hardest hit. It also addressed the forum's claims that their members would be economically battered should the restrictions not be lifted, saying that they were not unique in this regard.
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