- Wine producers' organisation Vinpro wanted the High Court to provide interim relief to the liquor ban until its main application could be heard.
- The liquor ban was lifted shortly after the application for interim relief.
- The judge found this made the issue of interim relief moot, since a full bench will hear the same issue later this month.
No ruling is needed on interim relief sought by wine producers' organisation, Vinpro, as President Cyril Ramaphosa has lifted the fifth ban on liquor sales, the Western Cape High Court has said.
Vinpro applied for urgent interim relief on 21 July this year, just days before Ramaphosa lifted the ban on 25 July. A full bench hearing on the same issue - whether restrictions on liquor sales can be determined at provincial level - is due later this month.
The High Court said ruling on the matter now would be a "dress rehearsal" and amount to merely giving an opinion.
Vinpro is a non-profit representing several SA wine producers, sellers and other industry stakeholders. It brought its urgent application when a fourth ban on the sale of alcohol had been declared as part of adjusted lockdown regulations in response to the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gauteng was the hotspot of Covid-19 infections at the time.
Vinpro wanted the Western Cape Premier to be able to adopt deviations to the ban, pending the hearing of the main application - which is based on the same arguments - on 23 August.
But the Western Cape High Court said this had become moot.
"There is no justification in the circumstances for awarding an interim remedy. Mootness comes into play, particularly if giving judgment in a matter will produce no tangible result, but merely an opinion," acting judge Constance Nziweni ruled in the application for interim relief.
After the president's announcement, the judge invited the affected parties to provide written submissions regarding mootness of the matter, which they did.
"In essence the parties agree that the matter is moot. Given the fact that the liquor ban has since been lifted and the full bench still has to adjudicate on the same aspect, any interim order by this court will not have any practical effect," said Nziweni.
But she added that the issue raised in the application was important. "There is a likelihood that in future the government may still impose national liquor bans," she said.