SAB criticises state’s handling of social unrest
SA Breweries (SAB), which has been affected by the looting frenzy in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, has criticised the government’s handling of the crisis.
SAB, which employs 200,000 people and supports over one million livelihoods along the beer value chain, said on Thursday that the government’s response to date had been in adequate.
“We are strongly appealing to government and all social partners to step up, lead us and help us during these turbulent times. The response to date has been inadequate and as citizens we deserve better,” SAB said in a statement.
For its part, the government has doubled the army personnel to 5,000 this week and plans to ramp up the number to 25,000 quell the social unrest, which has led the temporary closure of businesses in the affected provinces.
The social unrest, which was sparked by the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma last week, started in parts of KwaZulu-Natal before spreading to Gauteng. Shopping malls, warehouses, factories were looted, vandalised and/or destroyed.
The total cost of the damage is not yet clear, but the mayor of e-Thekwini, Mxolisi Kaunda, estimated on Wednesday that it will cost the metro about R16bn.
While Gauteng experienced relative calm by Thursday morning, several buildings in Durban were on fire, implying that the cost of damage could be higher.
“At SAB, the looting spread through our Pietermaritzburg depot and countless distributors, retailers across the country were left bare in the rampage. This, on top of four total alcohol bans, further threatens the lives and livelihoods of our people and the volatile sustainability of our industry,” the company said in a statement.
SAB, which is a unit of the global brewing giant AB InBev, is also reeling from the latest ban on the sale of alcohol, which is meant to free up space at hospitals for Covid-19 patients. However, it still pledged its previously announced R2bn in capital expenditure.
The cumulative effect of destruction filters into thousands of township businesses, ranging from liquor stores, taverns, distributors, restaurants, security services, cleaners and logistics companies who have been left devastated by the unrest, SAB said.
Source: businesslive.co.za
