Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has reserved judgment on Vinpro’s urgent interim interdict, to enable the sale of liquor in the province.
Representing around 2 600 South African wine producers, cellars and industry stakeholders, Vinpro had brought forward the application to allow the province to adopt deviations to the national ban, of both off and on-site consumption alcohol sales.
After a full day in court on Wednesday, Vinpro said their legal teams and that of the government argued before Acting Judge Noluthando Nziweni.
“We are hopeful for a positive outcome and eagerly await feedback on this important principle that would govern decision-making regarding future wine sales bans,” said Vinpro managing director Rico Basson.
“The South African wine industry is at the edge of a cliff, after its revenue stream has been cut off intermittently over the past 16 months. For every week that goes by, even more wine-related businesses face potential closures, leaving thousands of employees struggling to feed their families,” said Basson.
Their main interdict application is still set to be heard between August 23 and 26.
Meanwhile the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) said active legal cases against the government made it difficult to engage with the liquor industry, as the Beer Association of South Africa – along with the Liquor Traders Association of South Africa and Vinpro – wrote to Dtic Minister Ebrahim Patel requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the impact of the ban.
In a statement, the associations jointly said it is estimated that the latest four-week ban has put 9 206 jobs in the alcohol industry at risk, with a potential loss of R10.2 billion in taxes and excise duties.
This follows the three previous bans, which resulted in more than 7 400 jobs lost in the beer industry alone, as well as R14.2 billion in lost beer sales revenue, and more than a R7.8 billion loss in taxes and excise duties, they said.
DTIC’s director for media relations Bongani Lukhele said there have been ongoing engagements to hear the industry's concerns.
“It is important to emphasise that the DTIC, under Minister Patel's leadership, has been engaging intensively in the NEDLAC Rapid Response Task Team on Covid-19 (NRRTT),” Lukhele said.
“This is a structure of NEDLAC, which includes Organised Labour, Business, Government and Community representatives, and the liquor industry issue, have been extensively discussed within this structure.
“The NRRTT also set up a Liquor Industry Task Team (LITT) which has been meeting regularly and where the DTIC is an active participant, along with Business and Organised Labour. The LITT has worked intensively to agree on a Social Compact for the sector.
“Additionally, Minister Patel has engaged the Liquor industry in December 2020 and Deputy Minister Fikile Majola engaged with the industry in early this year.
“The Liquor Traders Association of South Africa had chosen not to participate in these consultations,’’ said Lukhele.
A number of liquor industry participants, such as SAB and Vinpro, have active legal cases against the Government, which makes engaging the industry much more difficult, Lukhele said.
“Notwithstanding this, we remain committed to continually engaging with lead representatives from the liquor sector,” he said.
Cape Times