THE ECONOMIST
Unhappy hour
South Africa’s alcohol ban ferments unrest.
“Home-made pineapple beer has become very popular.” Safura Abdool Karim is a public health lawyer in Johannesburg. She’s referring to the spike in alcohol recipe searches since the liquor ban began. People are also researching how to extract alcohol from hand sanitiser in record numbers.
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has imposed one of the world’s most stringent covid-19 lockdowns prohibiting the production, distribution and sale of alcohol. According to Safura the policy plays a crucial role in flattening the coronavirus curve. “It dramatically reduces hospital admissions and frees up healthcare capacity. People make better decisions when they’re sober. It reduces by tens, possibly hundreds of thousands the people in the supply chain, breaking the momentum of transmission.” It is hoped the ban also helps mitigate domestic violence. Reports by the World Health Organisation substantiate the claim, but the effects of confinement, withdrawal and frustration may temper the benefits.
So far key figures support the policy – only 54 deaths have been directly attributed to the virus – but dissent is growing. Various bodies are lobbying for a less draconian approach. Drug charities have started a petition amid concerns about abrupt withdrawal.
The Gauteng Liquor Forum (GLF) which represents small businesses has repeatedly threatened court action claiming the ban is unconstitutional. Safura thinks their case is flawed. “They are playing a game of chicken. Parliamentary legislation includes specific provision for banning alcohol in emergency situations.” The GLF have challenged the legality of prohibition and accused the government of “blatant racial discrimination.”
Poor black people are being disproportionately affected. Looted liquor shops and deserted shebeens are calamitous economically. Social distancing is all but impossible in high-density poor neighbourhoods, many without access to running water.
It is common in townships for people to make their own beer as part of a longstanding cultural tradition. Umqombothi is a sorghum-based home-brew. It is relatively nutritious, low in alcohol and currently legal for personal consumption. Yet there are increasing reports of police aggressively entering private properties and disposing of home-made alcohol – what people are calling the ‘Skop, skiet and donner’ approach (literally ‘kick, shoot and thunder’). It draws troubling parallels with police activity during apartheid when this kind of brewing was prohibited, criminalising already marginalised black people.
Online videos of the violence are proliferating – people in food queues shot with rubber bullets and whippings in the street. The security forces have been accused of several deaths since lockdown started including the fatal shooting of a man in Vosloorus. Allegedly the police followed him home from a tavern and shot him dead, wounding his children in the process. Many suspect the disproportionate violence has been mandated by the minister for Police Bheki Cele, fuelled by an ideological crusade unrelated to the pandemic. There are urgent calls for a parliamentary probe into his conduct.
On the other side of the fence two officers have been arrested for buying black market alcohol, allegedly for resale. Police have also been caught escorting booze-laden trucks across provinces and while overall crime figures are down, the black market and organised crime are thriving.
South Africa’s covid-19 curve diverges significantly from most other countries with generally low infection rates, by this measure the ban is working. But, unlike many other countries, the demographic most vulnerable to covid-19 are young working people with high rates of HIV and other immuno-deficiency diseases. They are much harder to confine than an elderly population which massively complicates any exit strategy. With no end to the lockdown in sight, diminishing public support for the government and mounting civil unrest, the real costs of prohibition are starting to stack up.