Alcohol sales not banned, just suspended – Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended government’s decision to ban the sale of alcohol.
This comes after the statesman announced a moratorium on the sale, dispensation and distribution of alcohol on Sunday as the country fight a surge in Covid-19.
Ramaphosa says he stands by that decision.
“We are still in a lockdown and we are now in level 3 and as we traverse our way through level 3 we’ve been loosening a number of restrictions. In some cases when as we have encountered real challenges, we’ve reverted back to lockdown periods, for instance with alcohol.”
Ramaphosa says the suspension of alcohol sales was motivated by the strain of booze on the health system.
“With alcohol, out of the lived evidence that as been given to us by our health workers and our medical advisory committee, we realised that the hospitals that we’ve got are being utilised more and more since we lifted the ban on alcohol.”
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He adds it’s only a temporary solution.
“It’s not a ban. It’s a suspension to allow our health system to be able to cope.”
Ramaphosa says the same can be applied to the ban on the sale of cigarettes.
“We’ve dealt with the issue of tobacco and it is not an easy one. We took advise on it and also just on the impact of smoking on the health conditions of people.
“This is not a ban, it is a suspension. The issue of tobacco will be resolved as we go through the various levels.”
The South African government is now faced with mounting pressure from the various industries to open up the sale of liquor and tobacco.