Pretoria - Owners of restaurants and businesses that were hoping to make up for time lost during the first two weeks of lockdown level 4 say they are unsettled by the ongoing protests.
Chief executive of the Restaurants Association of South Africa Wendy Alberts said many local businesses that were hoping to reopen their doors were unsure how to proceed following the outbreak of riots and looting across parts of Gauteng.
Alberts said the past two weeks had been particularly difficult for restaurants as many were still struggling to recover from previous lockdowns and the intermittent banning of alcohol sales.
She said for businesses in volatile areas, reopening was not an option .
“As it is, many of the restaurants had to close early on Monday because no one knows what exactly is going on … everyone is fearful.
“The past two weeks have been extremely hard, and these riots are distracting everyone from the real issue, of people losing their jobs especially in the restaurant business.
“We urge everyone to stand together and to stop destroying our country.”
Meanwhile, tavern owners around Tshwane said they were dismayed at the apparent favouritism being shown towards restaurants by the government.
Oupa Mthombeni, leader of the Concerned Tshwane Liquor Traders’ Association, said they were disappointed that some of their suggestions, which included takeaways for customers, had been turned down.
“We understand the need for the government to curb the third wave and we are willing to help and abide by the regulations, but they can’t leave us to suffer like this.
“We are not even getting any assistance from them and they know that we need to.”
The South African Liquor Brand Owners’ Association called on the government to reconsider allowing the limited sale of alcohol.
It said since the ban on alcohol sales was implemented on June 27, there had been numerous incidents reported of break-ins at warehouses and distribution centres.
Association chairperson Sibani Mngadi said over the previous week members had reported criminal incidents and theft of stock from warehouses in Pretoria, Boksburg, Durban and Bloemfontein.
“While many businesses are affected by the incidents related to political unrest, liquor stores are becoming a particular target of mass looting due to high demand for alcoholic beverages as a result of the ban of sales.”
He said the association had made a submission to the National Coronavirus Command Council, requesting that alcohol sales for home consumption be allowed from Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm.
They have also requested that e-commerce and home deliveries be allowed as these sales channels did not pose any increased risk of infections compared with similar sales of other goods.
“Opening some form of legal sales will reduce the increasing incidents of crime, especially at this time when experts are suggesting that Gauteng might have reached the peak of the current third wave of Covid-19 infections,” said Mngadi.
Pretoria News