The Western Cape’s Provincial Minister for Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, elaborates on the effects that Covid-19, and the recent alert level 4 lockdown restrictions, have had on the wine industry and the province as a whole. 

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Meyer reflects on the detrimental economic impacts the pandemic has had on the wine industry since the start of the initial lockdown. He says this is the fifth time over the past 15 months that bans have been imposed on the wine and alcohol industry. Meyer says the wine industry cannot sustain these irregular stop-and-go intervals, in actual fact, no business or economic entity can contribute effectively under these circumstances.

“98% of all the wine cellars in South Africa are found in the Western Cape so these restrictions have a devastating impact on the wine industry and we have about 40 thousand people working directly in the wine industry. This is certainly hurting employees, it's hurting income and it's definitely hurting the economy here in the Western Cape,” says Meyer.

He goes on to say that people have time and again turned to the black market for the purchase of liquor, which has, in effect, led to a further decline in legal sales of wine. Meyer adds that the agriculture sector is relied on for almost half of the economy in the Western Cape.

Speaking to OFM News, Meyer says that he has written to the National Minister of Agriculture, requesting that amendments be made to the recent alert level 4 lockdown restrictions. He says he is grateful for the amendments that have been made, however, he believes that further amendments are required, which include the sale of wine online and transportation of wine samples for tasting and chemical testing.

Finally, he says, “We call on the government to certainly support all these industries who have now lost an income as a result of the ban on the sale of alcohol in South Africa.”

OFM News/Lee Simmons