Zelda Venter
Pretoria - As I sipped on my evening glass of Merlot on Saturday (from a bottle which was, thank goodness, delivered at great cost from a wine farm estate before the second ban on alcohol sales was announced), I mulled over the announcement unbanning alcohol sales yet again.
While I would have missed my glass of “relaxation” if the ban had continued, I worried nonetheless whether my fellow citizens would be responsible while we are facing the claws of the Covid-19 pandemic.
My somewhat bleak mood was not lifted when I woke up in the early hours of the morning to loud thudding noises. As per my ever vigilant neighbourhood WhatsApp group, I learnt that it was a group of youngsters revving their cars in some sort of road race, or perhaps, in celebration of the “good news”.
This worried me more. Are some of us are taking the pandemic seriously? This group clearly also had a stash of whatever they drank at hand, or, more likely, they had “made a plan”.
Be that as it may, I am worried that from today, when alcohol is freely available again, how we will all behave.
The unbanning on the sale of cigarettes came as a great relief to my fellow villagers in Pretoria East, who have spent a great deal of time complaining about the illegal cigarette trade taking place a few steps outside our gated community.
While the relaxation of the regulations is a vast step towards trying to save the economy from collapse, some said this was too little, too late.
The wine industry, which includes about 120 wine farmers, were set to take on the government this week, especially over the banning on the sale of wine under level 3 of the lockdown.
While their case was moved to next week to be heard by a full Bench (three judges) they are awaiting the announcement of the amended regulations and its details before they decide on the legal route.
The same goes for the legal challenge by the game farmers who said their industry too has been severely prejudiced by the regulations.
The South African Agri-initiative (Saai) said the president’s announcement might not save the fate of many wine and game farmers.
Dr Theo de Jager, the chairperson of Saai’s board of directors, said the game industry was crippled by the absence of trophy hunters coming in from abroad.
He said the traditional hunting season was almost at an end and hundreds of game farms have been plunged into a financial crisis, with thousands of job losses.
Similar job losses have resulted in a crisis in the wine industry.
De Jager said overflowing cellars have no storage capacity in tanks and barrels. They have notified producers that they are unable to allocate next year's quotas.
The tobacco farmers and their workers who are facing a cash flow crisis by the 20-week-long cigarette ban, are no better off.
They say the arguments Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma used to justify the ban on selling cigarettes were far removed from reality.
The Fair Trade Tobacco Association seems set on continuing its fight against the previous banning, in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein
After all, the government can decide, at any time, to go back to levels 3 to 5 which could mean a renewed ban on alcohol and cigarette sales.
While we head to the shops this week to stock up, I plead with all to remember we are in the grips of a pandemic and we have to be responsible.
And can the high-end tourist industry can be kind to us while our international borders are closed and reduce their prices to also accommodate us locals for a change?
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** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, please call the 24-hour hotline on 0800 029 999 or visit sacoronavirus.co.za
Pretoria News