The Office of the State Attorney acting on behalf of the president Ramaphosa has finally responded to the Gauteng Liquor Forum (GLF)ʼs letter of demand demanding the lifting of the ban on alcohol. In the response, the State Attorney representing asks for an extension until close of business on Friday in order to properly respond to GLF.
As it were, the GLF (apparently representing approximately 20 000 micro and small businesses in Gauteng) on Saturday sent a letter of demand to President Ramaphosa demanding among other things that:
“That the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs should immediately and forthwith remove, amend or lift the regulation which places a total ban of the selling of alcohol.”
The letter goes to state:
“18. Unless we receive the written undertaking from the Honourable President by no laterthan 12h00 on Tuesday 14 April 2020, our clients will have no option but to approachcourt on urgent basis for appropriate relief.19.”
Of particular relevance and legal significance in this letter of demand are paragraphs 13-14 which state as follows:
“13. Our clients also submit that even if there is authority to issue the Regulations, thetotal ban on the selling of alcohol is unreasonable and it has no rational connectionto the mischief which is sought to be prevented.
Public statements which have beenmade by senior members of Cabinet suggest that the alcohol ban is being used toachieve ends which are not related to combating Covid-19. We also submit thatthere are less restrictive measures which could have been out in place to prevent oralleviate the spread of the disease.
14. Our clients would have readily accepted the limitation on their trading hours as wasthe case when the first Covic-19 Regulations were published on 18 March 2020. However, a total ban on the selling of alcohol unduly and unlawfully infringes on their section 22 constitutional rights.”
These two paragraphs raise interesting arguable points of law. It would indeed be in the public interest if not the interest of Justice to see how the court rule on them.