‘DOUBLE BLOW’ FOR LIQUOR TRADERS

MBABANE – On top of reduced operating hours, liquor traders have another headache.

The validity of liquor licences is up until the last day of this month (17 days’ time). This happens at a time when Acting Prime Minister (APM) Themba Masuku has announced strengthened Level 2 COVID-19 restrictions which come into effect today. The restrictions will be revised in two weeks’ time. According to Masuku, liquor outlets will be permitted to sell alcohol from Mondays to Thursdays, between 9am and 5pm. They were operating between Mondays and Saturdays before the new arrangement.

Validity

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade had extended the validity of liquor licences to June 30, 2021.  They were initially supposed to expire on March 31. When making the announcement at the time, Principal Secretary (PS) Siboniso Nkambule explained that the extension was intended at assisting businesses to restore normal business operations after the lifting of the ban of alcohol sales. Dumsile Maseko, who is Communications Officer in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade, confirmed the June 30 deadline when sought for comment earlier. Despite the reduced operating hours, which will hit hard on revenue; the liquor traders are expected to cough up to E4 500 in some instances to renew their liquor licences or face staying out of business.

Eswatini Liquor Traders Association Secretary Thami Hlatshwayo said their biggest wish at this point was to meet government  at a round table to reach common ground on a number of unresolved issues. He noted that the liquor industry was one of the most affected by lockdown, closing for a combined nine months without compensation. “Again we felt we needed to be consulted before the decision to reduce the trading hours was taken.
“We contribute a lot for revenue to government,” he noted. When announcing the new restrictions this past Friday, the APM said the Kingdom had unfortunately recorded 82 new cases in the past week alone with three recorded deaths in just the past three days. “These numbers are a serious cause for concern particularly when we consider that from mid-March we were averaging five daily cases and had gone 18 days without any new recorded deaths.”  “In the past three months, we had placed our restrictions at Level 1 due to the lower number of daily cases as seen by the seven-day moving average and the lower positivity rate for COVID-19, which remained below one per cent,” he said.

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