Winde Calls on President Ramaphosa to Ease Ban on Booze, Beaches

Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 12:54 PM by Samantha Riddle

- Alan Winde has called on President Ramaphosa to convene a special President's Coordinating Council meeting

- The Western Cape Premier feels that its high time some lockdown restrictions are relaxed

- Winde is calling for, to name a few, a lifting of the ban on beaches and liquor trade

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Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has now called upon President Cyril Ramaphosa to convene a special President's Coordinating Council meeting.

Mainstream — Winde is calling for a number of lockdown restrictions to either be lifted or eased. Image: RODGER BOSCH/AFP
Source: Getty Images

This request was contained in a letter sent to the President, detailing his proposals for some lockdown restriction amendments.

Among other things, Winde has called for the ban on beaches and public spaces to be lifted, the curfew amended and the sale of liquor for offsite consumption granted for certain days.

The Premier noted that there has been a steady decline in active cases in the Western Cape:

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“We are saying, we don’t have to go all the way, but we have to find a happy medium. At the moment, the balance is out. We have also motivated this through showing the impact on jobs in the province. We have put sufficient healthcare response in place; the extra beds that we have put in place; how we managed the oxygen; how we have managed through the peak with bringing on extra staff, etc.”

Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer has added his voice to the calls for the liquor ban to be lifted.

Meyer pointed out that wine export is the third-largest export of South Africa's economy with the industry set to lose R2 billion and nearly 5 600 jobs in the province alone:

“I have now written an urgent letter to the national government requesting them to immediately lift the ban on the sale of alcohol. It will help to save lives, and livelihoods the economy of the Western Cape is dependent on agriculture, and wine is an agricultural project. We must save jobs in the wine industry.”