Cape Town – Liquor stores are preparing for an influx of customers today as outlets open across the country, with many enforcing extra security measures.
The Western Cape Liquor Authority (WCLA) said it would be working closely with the police to ensure safe trading methods.
After a 9-week ban on the sale of alcohol as part of the Covid-19 lockdown measures, the government recently announced bottle stores would be allowed to trade during level 3.
Liquor sales are limited to between 9am and 5pm, Mondays to Thursdays.
WCLA spokesperson Nwabisa Mpalala said the pandemic had led the nation to change business operations to keep the public safe.
“Our enforcement team will be working in partnership with the SAPS to monitor and ensure that there is responsible trading.
"The WCLA has also communicated to the industry to share the specific regulations regarding alcohol and its trading. Further, our organisation will continue to report all illegal trading to SAPS since it is a criminal offence,” said Mpalala.
The preparations come as the Western Cape and the Northern Cape have been identified as areas with the highest prevalence of smoking by province, according to the Human Sciences Research Council’s Dr Sibusiso Sifunda.
Commenting on a survey about smoking patterns, Sifunda said: “In the Western Cape about 36% of men reported that they smoke and in the Northern Cape about 41%.
"For women it is 23% in the Western Cape and 18.1% in the Northern Cape. Limpopo has the lowest smoking rate in the country for both men and women.”
The comments emerged in a
panel discussion with anti-smoking
activists organised by the Health
Department to mark World No
Smoke Day yesterday.
The event came as the
government faced a pushback
from the tobacco industry over its
continued ban on sales of cigarettes,
with the Fair Trade Tobacco
Association (Fita) taking President
Cyril Ramaphosa to court.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Joe
Phaahla said they wanted to reduce
the number of young smokers.
“We know tobacco has been very
topical, particularly in this time, and
we want to assert the decision to
not allow the selling of tobacco was
and remains a correct one.
"Smoking
remains a risk factor for death,
killing half of those who smoke,” he
said.
Phaahla also used Sunday’s
event to intensify the campaign by
the government against smoking
in South Africa. He said the ban
on their sale had resulted in about
800 000 quitting.
Phaahla called on the youth to
kick the habit: “We hope
that the message will go down to
especially our young people that this
is not cool.
“The aim of having this activity
today as we celebrate the No Tobacco
Day is to remind smokers, young
people and non-smokers about the
risk of using and the exposure to
tobacco products, and to strengthen
our resolve and our fight against the
use of tobacco.”
This year’s theme was titled
“Protecting youth from industry
manipulation and preventing them
from tobacco and nicotine use”.
“Specifically for South Africa
we would also like to enlighten the
public about the risk of smoking
during this Covid-19 pandemic.
"We know that this has been a very
topical issue with a lot of debate and
controversy but we want to assert
that indeed we believe the decision
to disallow retailing of tobacco
remains a correct one,” Phaahla
said.
He warned that besides causing
lung cancer, tobacco use was a
leading risk factor and killed half
of those who smoked, with about
8 million deaths a year globally.
Phaahla said the country had
over the years put in place
several regulatory measures,
including banning tobacco
adverts, prohibiting smoking in
public places, and increasing taxes
on tobacco products.
“In SA we have made a lot of
progress because tobacco used to
kill about 40 000 people upwards
but through the various efforts of
government and civil society, this
figure has come down to about
20 000 a year.
"But it still leaves many
people with debilitating, chronic
obstructive diseases,” he said, adding tobacco was also a risk factor in
coronary heart disease.