No clarity on lift of alcohol ban
Liquor store owners await the address on regulations surrounding the lift on the alcohol ban along with everybody else, as even the liquor board cannot give clarity on what to expect.
Most liquor store owners were weary to give predictions on which regulations will be set into place, all saying that they can only wait for the government gazette to be amended.
HJ van der Ahee, owner of the Blue Bottle Store, said that he can only speculate on how regulations will affect trading.
He suspects that liquor outlets will operate under business hour restrictions, allowing companies to trade from Mondays to Wednesdays, from 09:00 to 13:00.
He further added that the word on the street about a prohibition on any hard tack and spirits is just a rumour, and that bottle stores will likely be allowed to carry on with normal trading, only within strict time slots and perhaps even a limit on quantity of purchases.
“These are only speculations, and we will have to wait for the Minister’s speech, like everybody else.”
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, is scheduled to address the nation this afternoon at 14:00.
This comes after a postponement of her address, twice throughout the week.
An update giving more information, will follow at a later stage.
