‘All we want is bubbles’: Shoppers queue for alcohol on first day of level 3

“This is a chemist. This is where the adults come to collect their medicine,” said Solomzi Melane, from Soweto, who was queuing outside a Pick n Pay liquor store in Newtown earlier this morning.

Melane said the government’s decision to ban the sale of alcohol did “not sit well with me” and he “felt like someone who I loved dearly had died”.

Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country would move to level three of the lockdown, amending regulations to accommodate the sale of alcohol from Monday to Thursday, from 9am to 5pm.