Following President Ramaphosa’s national address on 23 April 2020 regarding the reopening of the economy from 1 May 2020, we would like to applaud the South African Government for taking a cautious approach to reopening our economy.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that the country would lift COVID-19 restrictions in phases, with only certain industries allowed to operate at each stage under a five-level risk system. In his speech, Ramaphosa said the lockdown would be lowered from its current level five, the most severe with only essential services permitted, to level four on Friday 1 May 2020.

This will see only a partial opening of industries such as mining and manufacturing, while the agriculture, financial and telecoms sectors will be allowed to resume activities in full. The country then plans to gradually continue opening up its economy, but restrictions on restaurants, bars, conference facilities along with sporting, cultural and religious events will remain in place, even when the country moves to level 1, the most relaxed alert stage.

Vinpro, together with other industry bodies are busy preparing a formal response to the Level 4 draft document circulated yesterday. This is to ensure full clarity on wine exports, including services, packaging, transport as well as local market trade. The wine tourism industry is in the process of submitting comments on the draft document and we would like inform you that individual comments may also be submitted to this document. We hope to gain clarification on the abovementioned points as soon as possible and will keep you updated on any further developments as they unfold.

Submit any comments to [email protected] by no later than Monday, April 27 at 12:00.

ENQUIRIES:

Vinpro [email protected]

WoSA [email protected]

SALBA [email protected]