The liquor forum wrote to Ramaphosa arguing that it was their constitutional mandate to continue trading alcohol and threatening to approach the Constitutional Court for legal recourse.
The red berets have in turn said that if the forum takes the government to court, the party “will without hesitation gather a powerful legal team to oppose any court action by any liquor forum anywhere in the country to lift the ban on the sale of alcohol”.
“More importantly the lockdown regulations restrict the movements of persons and goods. In particular, regulation 11B(1)(b) provides that all businesses and other entities shall cease operations during lockdown, save for essential services and goods,” the letter reads.
The forum is claiming that since government moved to declare a state of emergency in the country it has lost a considerable amount of money.
“The extension of the lockdown period to April 30 2020 will most likely ruin their businesses. They do not have access to other means of surviving, while the lockdown continues,” the forum said.