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The South African wine industry body Vinpro is heading to the Cape High Court in an attempt to have the ban on the sale of wine under the current lockdown level 3 regulations overturned.
Vinpro says that faced with the devastating impact that the third ban has had on the wine industry, it was left with no choice but to approach the courts for relief.
“While we share government’s concern over the devastating effect of this pandemic and support meaningful measures to flatten the curve, we do not support the continued outright ban on the sale of wine while alternative interventions are available to mitigate risks,” said Vinpro MD Rico Basson.
Basson added that the South African wine industry currently supports the livelihoods of 269 000 employees and generates R55 billion in revenue for the economy.
However, some 27 000 jobs are now at risk after an alcohol ban of 19 weeks since March 2020 which has resulted in a loss of more than R8 billion in direct sales and the possible closure of cellars and producers.
Basson cautioned that with the 2021 harvest commencing this week, the industry now has more than 640 million litres of stock of which 300 million is uncontracted.
He said this poses a material risk of insufficient processing and storage capacity for the new harvest and threatens the very sustainability of the wine industry.
Urgent interim relief will now be sought which would afford the Premier of the Western Cape the power to adopt deviations to enable off- and on-consumption sale of liquor in the province.
Ultimately similar relief will be sought in respect of other provinces. The matter is set down for hearing on 5 February 2021.
