TimesLIVE reports that Wendy Alberts, CEO of the Restaurants Association of SA (Rasa), said on day three of a sit-in at the Union Buildings that the industry was imminently facing complete and utter destruction.  

With 11,000 restaurants behind her cause, she is calling for the revised lockdown level 3 curfew and ban on alcohol sales to be lifted.  On Wednesday, Alberts walked up and down in front of an entrance to the seat of government with a placard stating “President Ramaphosa, please save our restaurants” and “Jobs save lives”.  She stated:  “This will be my office until the president talks to me and the rest of our constituency and stakeholders.”  Alberts arrived on Monday to hand a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa in which a call was made for an inter-ministerial meeting to have discussions.  “We felt consultations were quite thin with government and that communication was certainly closed off since the last announcement on December 28,” she pointed out.  After the hit the industry took during the festive season, Rasa believes many in the industry will not survive another week.  “If we do not get the curfew lifted, 12% of restaurants will close within a day, 38% will close within one week, 48% will close within a month and only 6% will be able to survive past the month.  These numbers are quite dramatic. If the liquor ban is not lifted, we are looking at the same figures,” Alberts lamented.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Shonisani Tshikalange at TimesLIVE

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