Ncane Mbele's once flourishing liquor store needs at least R250,000 to be able to trade again after looters cleaned it out.
Mbele, 51, of Duduza township in Ekurhuleni, had no insurance for his business Freedom Square Liquor Store. He said he couldn't afford it owing to constant alcohol bans due to Covid-19 lockdown regulations.
On Monday night last week, Mbele's store was ransacked and looters broke the normally secure steel roller door to gain access and helped themselves to his stock worth about R300,000, he said.
“They broke the roller door about 9pm and took everything," Mbele said.
Mbele, who started the business in 2010, said his liquor store was still trying to recover from the many alcohol bans which often made it difficult for the business to pay salaries of his four employees.
“I don't have insurance ... moreover with having to close and open, you are not able to cover all your costs including paying insurance," Mbele said.
When asked what would it take for him to keep his business alive, Mbele said: “If I could get assistance with fixing the fittings and fixtures, and second, to get stock to be able to get back in business."
Mbele has so far managed to ensure that the place is lockable and can't be accessed by vagrants or nyaope boys who “could finish it off completely".
Meanwhile, the Beer Association of SA (Basa) said 161 liquor outlets and distribution centres had been looted and damaged, leading to the liquor industry suffering a double-blow as they're struggling due to the liquor sale ban as per the Covid-19 level 4 lockdown regulations.
Basa CEO Patricia Pillay said they were “calling for the alcohol ban to be lifted so that legal businesses can operate, to avoid a possible collapse of the industry and the millions of livelihoods it supports".
“The Beer Association of SA along with the Liquor Traders Association of SA and VINPRO have therefore written to minister of trade, industry and competition Ebrahim Patel requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the devastating affect of the ban and alternative interventions," Pillay said.
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