Having alerted booze companies to an imminent alcohol ban over Easter, the government appears to have had a last-minute change of heart. Earlier this week, the department of trade & industry told liquor companies to expect an 11-day total ban — stirring up a frothy fury from the industry.But then President Cyril Ramaphosa gave a decidedly tempered speech this week on Tuesday. The president, seeming relaxed and entirely in control after his triumph at the ANC national executive committee meeting this weekend, not only kept the country at the lowest lockdown level over Easter, but only banned stores from selling alcohol from Friday to Monday. Restaurants, shebeens and taverns can sell alcohol throughout."Restrictions should not be more severe than is necessary to contain the spread of the virus," he said. "We continue to be guided by data on the epidemiological situation and by expert advice and wide consultation with social partners."This, of course, isn’t how it has been. Many of th...
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