GOVT TO REVIEW LIQUOR TRADERS OPERATING HOURS

MBABANE - Government, through the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade has promised to re-look the operating hours of liquor traders in the country.

This comes exactly three weeks after the Acting Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, lifted the ban on alcohol sale. Despite the lifting of the ban, traders in the liquor industry had been crying foul over the limited operating hours, which they said did not allow them to take advantage of the reopened industry. The fate of the liquor traders and possibly their new operating hours will be known next week. Government had banned alcohol sale after the surge of the coronavirus cases in the country. When Masuku announced the lifting of the ban on alcohol sale, he said the traders were allowed to operate from Monday to Thursday, from 9am to 5pm. He said no alcohol was to be sold on weekends. Also, all traders were requested to be in full compliance with the COVID -19 safety measures.

Complaining

In light of the ban being lifted, bottle store owners have been complaining that they are operating at a loss due to the minimal trading hours. Some said their businesses were slow as most customers preferred buying or stocking during the weekend. Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo, assured the traders that they were reviewing the matter. He said all was to be done according to the compliance by liquor outlets.
“We are considering their concerns. We are currently consulting with the Ministry of Health on how we can relax the restrictions,” said the minister. Khumalo said the biggest worry was how safe it would be to relax the restrictions. “We need to relax the restrictions without increasing the risk of more infections. We shall have an update by next week,” explained Khumalo. This news seemed to have hit the right chord with some traders in the industry.

Randomly interviewed bottle store owners said they would really appreciate a review on their trading hours. “I think I am speaking for all alcohol businesspeople in the country when I say we are strained. “We are not seeing our profits because there are less people buying or stocking up,” said one bottle store owner. Echoing him was another businessman, who said on a good day of business, he used to make a killing. “Before the tricky operating hours I sold about 20 cases per day and this was a clean E10 000. Now I’m lucky to get six cases out of the door and it becomes a huge profit mess,” he said. The cause for concern among all the alcohol traders was the limited trading hours that government had put in place.

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