The sale of alcohol for home consumption resumes on Monday (1 June) in South Africa, at level 3 lockdown, following a nine-week ban.

Liquor sales are permitted between Monday and Thursday, from 09h00 – 17h00. Online delivery will be subject to the same times, while no liquor can be consumed onsite.

Traders will need to adhere to a number of safety protocols when selling to the public.

MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube said that a total of 8,000 liquor licence holders in the province are expected to open their doors on Monday.

“Critically, I wish to announce that where any licence holder is found to have violated any of the provisions contained in the regulations or the sale of liquor in terms of the KZN Liquor Licensing Act, the KZN liquor authority will recommend the suspension of the license until the end of lockdown or for three months.”

The MEC said that a team of inspectors from the department – KZN Liquor Authority, Department of Employment and Labour and law enforcement agencies will make unannounced visits to all licensed premises across the province to monitor compliance with regulations.

Before any liquor can be sold by any license holder, Covid-19 Health Regulations must be strictly adhered as follows:

• Social Distancing Requirements must be observed as allowed by the floor space of the license outlet to observe the distance of 1.5 meters between customers both inside and outside the license premises;

• All patrons entering the licensed premises must be screened and those who show the high temperature of 37 and more should not be allowed inside;

• All persons inside the premises must wear the prescribed masks and covering mouth and the nose;

• No customers should be allowed to enter the licensed premises without wearing a mask and must have his/her hands sanitized at the liquor premises, before entry;

• Regarding the health and safety of workers – license holders must adhere to the Occupational Health and Safety Act as outlined by the Department of Employment and Labour.

Long queues have been reported at various liquor outlets ahead of opening.

The South African Breweries (SAB), the country’s largest brewer, said that it has put in place a number of  measures to prioritise the safety of customers and retailers. The brewer said it will also target online orders so as to restrict human contact as much as possible

The company said it has developed a solution to limit this contact, while still facilitating trade. ‘Click and Collect’ is a USSD model available to our partners and their customers that is easy to use, it said.

To use Click and Collect, a customer simply has to enter the unique USSD code (*- – -#), select the products they would like, the tavern they would like to collect from, and a time slot in which they will collect the products.

Smart phones are not needed for this technology, and time slots allocated facilitate only a limited number of people for proper social distancing, SAB said.