The alcohol and cigarette sales ban could not have continued much longer, with business reconsidering investments
President Cyril Ramaphosa certainly took his time to confirm last week’s reports that South Africans will be able to, legally, enjoy a drink at a bar, travel between provinces and puff on a cigarette.
It’s been a long time coming for the economy, which Investec says shrunk about 60% in the second quarter. For the full year, the central bank expects the economy to contract more than 7%, one of the largest contractions in generations and risking setting off cascading corporate failures, especially in the tourism, airline and hotel industries, which have been forced into hibernation since end-March.
For some in the tourism industry, which contributes almost 9% to the economy and accounts for about 10% of all jobs, the lifting of the restrictions may have come a little too late. The industry has been running on fumes for much of the last five months, triggering a fight for survival even among heavyweight players such as Sun International and Tsogo Sun.
In the speech, the president was rightly eager to emphasise that we should not let our guard down even with a recovery rate of almost 80%.
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