The South African alcohol industry, which contributes R173 billion or 3.4% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), lost R21.8 billion in revenue during the first two alcohol bans in 2020. An extended third ban is currently underway. With another implementation of a ban spanning at least seven weeks this increases the loss to R30.4 billion.

Alcohol distribution company owner Alistair Shapiro is not going to let the third alcohol sales ban grind his business and lifeblood to a halt. Not two days after the announcement of the third ban on the sale of alcohol which took effect as of 29 December 2020, and owner of Shapiro Distributors, Alistair Shapiro was forced to call an emergency meeting with his employees.

Founder and owner of Ntombi’s Tavern in Tembisa, Ntombi Sibiya, can no longer let her constitutional rights be stripped away and has decided to take a stand for all those who depend on her. After a hard week’s work the people of Tembisa flock to their favourite local watering hole, Ntombi’s Tavern, to connect with their community and reminisce on the ups and downs of life as we know it. Or at least they used to as this once thriving small business was again forced to shut down due to the third ban on alcohol sales enforced by the National Command Council (NCCC) on 29 December 2020.