Office of the State Attorney

Pretoria
Private Bag X 91 Salu Building
PRETORIA Ground Floor
0001 316 Thabo Sehume
c/o Thabo Sehume & Francis Baard
Streets, Pretoria

Tel: (Secretary): (012) 309 1684

(Direct Line): (012) 309 1507

Direct Fax: 086 450 4256

Docex: 298

Enquires: A WASSERMAN My Ref: A Wasserman/Z71

Email: AWasserman@justice.gov.za Your Ref: Mr ET Mabuza/Mr T Sibuyi

17 April 2020

TO: MABUZA ATTORNEYS

1ST FLOOR, 83 CENTRAL STREET
HOUGHTON
BY EMAIL: eric@mabuzas.co.za

Dear Sirs

GAUTENG LIQUOR FORUM // COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN

1 We act for the Presidency in this matter.

2 We refer to your letter dated 11 April 2020, in which you seek an

undertaking from the President that the Minister of Cooperative

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 Governance and Traditional Affairs (“the Minister”) will remove, amend

or lift the regulation, contained in the regulations promulgated under

the National Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 on 25 March 2020

(“the lockdown regulations”), which places a total ban of the selling of

alcohol during the lockdown period. We also refer to your letter dated

15 April 2020, which we unfortunately only received on the morning of

17 April 2020.

3 We note from your letter of 15 April 2020 that notwithstanding the fact

that assistance measures may be available for your clients, they have

not all in fact applied for assistance they qualify for. We therefore

invite you to provide us with the registration details of all your clients’

businesses so that we may attempt to assist them with determining

what assistance they qualify for, and assisting them where possible with

applying for the appropriate funding.

4 We further note that although your first letter raised only the economic

concerns of your clients, you now raise constitutional concerns,

excesses of power and alleged unconstitutional conduct. We deny

that the lockdown and the Regulations and/or laws in terms of which it

is imposed, are unconstitutional. We do not wish to engage in litigation

by correspondence. We therefore do not intend to address each and

every allegation in your letter fully at this time. However, we respond

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 below to what appears to be the core complaint of your client –

namely the effect of the lockdown on their businesses and rights.

5 In this regard, we record as follows:

6 As we have previously noted, the decision to impose a lockdown on

South Africans was not taken lightly and was only taken after full

consideration of all relevant factors and expert advice. The

overarching concern in our decision making is the safety and interests

of all South Africans.

7 The President, Cabinet and the National Command Council met again

this past week to further consider the economic implications of the

continued lockdown on South Africa – inter alia on SMMEs including

township based Shebeens and Taverns such as your clients.

8 During the discussions held this week, the National Command Council,

Cabinet and the President carefully considered inputs from all relevant

sectors and experts in fields including financial, social, economic,

scientific and medical. Having done so, the decision was taken not to

ease the restrictions on the sale of alcohol during the lockdown.

9 The decision was taken after due consideration of the issues raised in

your letter and of the representations received by many others in the

same sector as your clients – including those who have asked

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 government to uphold the restrictions on the sale of alcohol because

of the dangers associated with the sale thereof.

10 Without in any way wishing to limit the relevant considerations taken

into account, we emphasise that amongst the considerations that are

of importance are the following:

10.1 The government has adopted a stance of seeking to maximise

the effects of the lockdown, by seeking to minimise commerce

except with regard to truly essential services. The sale of

alcohol is self-evidently not an essential service. On this basis

alone, it was considered that the sale of alcohol should not be

permitted.

10.2 The sale and consumption of alcohol also has proven links to an

increase in violent crime, motor vehicle accidents, medical

emergencies and results in full emergency rooms and hospitals.

In the face of a pandemic such as Covid-19, the experience of

the rest of the world has shown us that hospitals need to be

prepared to receive and treat vast numbers of covid-19

patients and to quarantine them from non-infected patients.

10.3 Prohibiting the sale of alcohol is also aimed at ensuring

compliance with the Lockdown Regulations, social distancing

protocols and proper hygiene practices by reducing or

eliminating the number of intoxicated persons, in light of

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 experience of non-compliance by intoxicated persons in

general.

10.4 In the absence of a lockdown, the worst effects of the spread of

Covid-19 are likely to be felt in those very sectors of society that

you claim to represent – those who live in the poorest

conditions, without access to sufficient resources - the most

vulnerable in society. The lockdown is aimed at preventing

Covid-19 from ravaging those sectors of our society. We

understand acutely how difficult the lockdown is on the poorest

in society and our economic measures are an attempt to

address this.

11 We further note your clients’ concerns in relation to the economic

impact of the lockdown on your clients’ businesses.

11.1 However, the economic impact of the lockdown is not felt only

by your clients – but by all industries which have been forced to

close down for the duration of the lockdown. This is a

regrettable, but inevitable, consequence of a lockdown.

11.2 The government is acutely aware that the effects of this are

particularly harsh on small businesses and has sought to provide

various mechanisms to alleviate this hardship on such

businesses. Included in these measures are economic

assistance packages for SMME’s through the Department of

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 Tourism, the Industrial Development Bank, the SMME Debt Relief

Fund, the Business Growth Resilience Fund and SMME Payroll

Assistance for employees of SMMEs.

11.3 Government will continue to find ways to assist South Africans

most affected by the lockdown and by the effects of the

Covid-19 pandemic.

11.4 We again record our concern that you have not indicated

whether your clients have attempted to access any of these

assistance packages. Should your clients have done so and

had difficulty accessing assistance, we would welcome

feedback so that we are able to attempt to address any

shortcomings in the process.

12 We hope that before approaching the courts, your clients will consider

the global effect of this pandemic, particularly in densely populated

areas and the potentially devastating consequences it could have in

a country such as South Africa in the absence of a lockdown – and

therefore to understand the approach that Government has chosen in

these difficult and unprecedented circumstances to protect all South

Africans.

13 Nothing contained in this letter must be understood as any concession

or admission regarding any contention contained in your letter.

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Yours faithfully

A WASSERMAN
For: STATE ATTORNEY (PRETORIA)

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