Lockdown level three came with the lifting of the ban on alcohol sales to the delight of consumers and business alike. However President Cyril Ramaphosa then re-instated the ban with immediate effect. He cited an increase of patients in the trauma units amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Was this a good enough reason considering the billions of rand in tax losses and threat of job cuts in the sector? Leslie London Head Of Public Health Medicine at the University of Cape Town and Maurice Smithers African Alcohol Policy Alliance Director as well as Mary Makgaba from POWA weigh in on this.