EFF lawyers have warned President Cyril Ramaphosa against lifting or relaxing regulations on the ban of the sale of alcohol during the lockdown.
Acting on behalf of the opposition party, Ian Levitt Attorneys and Conveyancers, said in a correspondence to the Presidency that amending the regulations on the sale of alcohol was not in the public interest and would open flood gates for other businesses to demand the same.
This is after the Gauteng Liquor Forum threatened to take Ramaphosa to the Constitutional Court if he doesn’t relax or uplift the ban on the sale of booze by midday today.
Ramaphosa has asked the forum to give his government until Friday to fully respond to the industry’s demands.
In a letter from the State Attorney to the forum’s lawyer, Eric Mabuza, Ramaphosa said the national command council, the Presidency and other parties were meeting this week to discuss details of the government’s economic assistance programme.
“This includes assistance offered to small businesses such as those of your clients, and other measures to mitigate the effects of the lockdown extension. We anticipate that the results of these discussions may well have a bearing on the issues raised by your client,” reads the letter.
Ramaphosa drew the forum’s attention to the Tourism Relief Fund, saying it was offering small, micro and medium sized enterprises capped grants for their sustainability.
“Kindly indicate whether your client’s members have attempted to access assistance through this mechanism and if not, why that is so?
Mabuza said he had “reluctantly” acceded to Ramaphosa’s request.
“As you know, court must always be the last resort. However, if they don’t give a satisfactory response on Friday, we will go to court,” he said.
The Forum had said government must lift the ban and allow for the sale of alcohol, but with limited operating hours, the ban is crippling their member’s businesses.
But the EFF has told the president not to cave into pressure by the alcohol lobby, saying this will undermine the objectives of the lockdown.
“Our client’s view is that should the removal, amendment or upliftment of the regulations banning the sale of alcoholic beverages take place, there is a risk that shebeens and taverns will be open to operate, which will completely eliminate the purpose of the national lockdown,” the lawyers said.
“Alcohol consumers will be entitled to gather, buy and consume alcohol, and the risk of the spread of the virus will exacerbate tenfold,” the lawyers added, noting that it would be difficult to enforce lockdown rules when people have consumed alcohol.”
It was not fair to other small businesses to ask to lift the ban or relax regulations on alcohol, as they have also been suffering, yet they were not clamouring for the lifting of the lockdown regulations, said the EFF lawyers.
