South Africa has one of the strictest Covid-19 lockdown regimes, a strategy that has paid off in keeping the number of deaths down. As of Monday, less than 300 deaths were Covid-19-linked. As The Washington Post points out, the number of deaths related to other causes is down, too. The publication highlights the strict alcohol ban and underscores that government leaders, like social development minister Lindiwe Zulu, see Covid-19 containment as a big experiment that goes beyond simply reducing the spread of the deadly virus. – Jackie Cameron
By Thulasizwe Sithole
South Africa’s alcohol ban has not only been about keeping a lid on the spread of the Covid-19 virus – it’s about the government experimenting with a way to cut the crime rate and change our boozy habits for good.
This was confirmed by Lindiwe Zulu, social development minister, in an article carried by the Washington Post, which points out that South Africa has taken some of the most drastic measures in the world to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus. The regulation that has generated fierce debate like no other has been the ban on the sale, and even transport, of alcohol, it tells its readers.
“Only two other countries – Sri Lanka and Panama – continue to deprive their citizens of that most universal pleasure-giver and painkiller, though much larger India and Thailand recently lifted similar bans.
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“On one side: drinkers who say their rights are being impinged on and bottle shop owners and liquor companies that are going broke. On the other: a public health system that is unburdened by thousands of monthly hospitalisations resulting from accidents and violence attributed to drunkenness,” says the Washington Post.
More than 5,000 fewer admissions to trauma units per week can be attributed to the alcohol ban, it continues, citing Charles Parry, director of alcohol research at the South African Medical Research Council.
“The council’s data also shows a decrease in excess deaths in South Africa, suggesting that the lockdown, with its alcohol ban and decrease in vehicle use, may have saved the lives of more South Africans than the 186 that the coronavirus is confirmed to have killed so far,” says the US media outlet.
.“Instead of patching people up with stabbing wounds, nurses can focus on training how to handle covid cases,” Parry said, referencing covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. “Based on our model, at least 15 people who would have otherwise died from alcohol-related traumas are being saved every single day,” he said.
The Washington Post contrasts this sharp drop-off in deaths with the picture in other countries, including the United States, which are seeing a spike in excess deaths that outpaces even the confirmed number of deaths attributed to the coronavirus.
“South Africa’s top government officials are casting the ban, which they tout as a major success, as not only a coronavirus-related measure, but also a social experiment that is providing feedback on how the country’s health-care system functions,” it says.
“With coronavirus, we have an opportunity to examine issues that have been vexing us in this country for a very, very long time,” said Zulu, asking: “Yes, the ban is drastic, but is this not a time for drastic measures?”
South African drinking habits are evidently excessive. “Sixty percent of drinking-age residents consider themselves binge drinkers, according to a 2016 government report, and the country ranked 159 out of 175 surveyed for road deaths by the World Health Organisation in 2018,” says the Washington Post.
Criticism of government policy is highlighted, with The Washington Post quoting investment banker Motheo Landane, 31, who questions whether alcohol is really responsible for as much violence and as many deaths as health officials claim.
“I’m like, no, the real reason for those decline in numbers is due to the fact there are less people on the roads,” he said.
For Thuli Madonsela, a professor of law and former public protector of South Africa, the government has not argued effectively as to why the entire country must suffer through the ban when the coronavirus outbreak has only affected pockets of it.
“They are firing as many bullets as possible, but in doing so, they are killing off certain rights that people have,” she is quoted as saying. “It is also unfair. The only people who are deprived of alcohol are the poor – the rich, we have our alcohol. As for health system benefits, we may be seeing them in the short term, but we have made people drop a habit, however harmful, very suddenly. There will be an ensuing mental health crisis.”
Those who can’t wait for the ban to be lifted have turned to the country’s more than 100,000 unlicensed liquor and cigarette sellers, point out the Washington Post reporters.
“It is truly shocking how much money people are willing to part with for alcohol,” said a seller named Peter, who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used to discuss his work. He sells bottles of alcohol at three times their sticker price. “Perhaps people have deep-rooted issues, because personally I am not sure if I’d want to spend this much on alcohol. But I am not complaining. I am making so much money.”
The ban’s effects on domestic abuse are harder to know, though one abuse victim, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to the publication, said she thanks God for the ban because it has helped her and her mother speak with her violent father.
“He is less violent, less aggressive, more patient, and I feel like I am learning more about him,” she said. “This man has deep-rooted issues that he is now forced to deal with, which is good. I just wish post-ban he can go and seek help and actually face his demons.”
Zulu “personally expects the ban to be lifted when the lockdown is further relaxed but said the government would be looking closely at how widespread its positive impacts have been”.
“We will look at what we did that made our citizens better citizens,” she said. “People have to be able to make their own choices, yes, but we are a brutalised community. The impact of alcohol in our social life was getting out of hand. I cannot say the ban will stand, but it is of interest to us to see how society can be improved.”
