LEVEL 2 is on, booze is back and so is skyf.
While most people are cheering, not everybody is happy.
FOR SOME IT’S GOOD NEWS – FOR OTHERS IT’S REALLY BAD!
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It’s been a rough couple of months for South Africans. They’ve had to go to extreme measures to get their next bottle of booze and their next cigarette and being ripped off by the “take it or leave it” gang selling booze at sky-high prices.
Thuli Walters (53) from Pimville told Daily Sun she started brewing her mbamba when lockdown started, and she had a lot of people coming to her to drink away their problems.
“Lockdown came as a blessing in disguise for me because it gave me a chance to make money,” said Thuli. “I’ve been making over a R1?000 a day selling to people from the kasis in Soweto.
”She said she sold two litres for R25 and she was sure people would still come back.
“People always want a quick and cheap fix.
I won’t be making so much money anymore, but my business will continue,” she said.
Tavern owner Zebethu Zikalala (38), also from Pimville, said he’s not happy about the return of alcohol and cigarettes.
“People don’t listen. They always break the rules,” he said.
“People’s lives are more important than making money. “They could have waited until next year. It’s not that I don’t need the money.
“I’m more concerned about my health and those of my patrons.
”Siyabonga Mzolo said he wished the ban on alcohol hadn’t been lifted because he was getting his life in order.
“I can’t resist alcohol. I was really seeing a great future ahead, but now all that will be gone,” he said.
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He said he couldn’t resist smoking, either.“I smoked anything that I came across just for a fix,” he said. Sivuyile Sondlo from Mzala’s Place said if it wasn’t for his partner, he didn’t know how his family would have survived lockdown.
“She has a full-time job, so she carried the family through tough times. “I’m happy that we’ll be back in business, but I know people will want to go and stock up from the big shops and come to us when people want booze during curfew.
“That’s how people are. This was my only source of income, so any money coming in will make a difference.”
A shebeen queen said she’s a smoker and a drinker herself and never suffered because she had the right connections. She said she had to treat her customers with a “take it or leave it” attitude.
“Government people sit comfortably in their homes drinking and smoking and we have to shut down our places while they live their best lives.“They’ve spent all the Covid-19 relief funds and have the nerve to dictate our lives.”
