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President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected requests from Gauteng business owners to lift the country’s alcohol ban. Instead, the president’s attorneys suggested that eligible companies apply for government financial assistance.
The Gauteng Liquor Forum represents some 20,000 tavern and shebeen owners in the province. In a letter sent to Ramaphosa on April 11, the group threatens to go to court to lift the ban. They ask the president to resume restricted business hours in place before instituting a national shutdown to curb new cases of the coronavirus.
In a seven-page response, the state attorney’s office says the decision to implement a national blockade was not made lightly.
And, that all trade, “except for truly essential services,” was stopped in an attempt to maximize the effects of the national blockade and prevent the virus from “ravaging” South Africans living in the poorest conditions.
Alcohol is simply not an essential service, they argue, and the liquor industry is not the only sector that is affected.
“In the face of a pandemic like Covid-19, experience from the rest of the world has shown us that hospitals must be prepared to receive and treat large numbers of patients and to quarantine uninfected patients.”
Lawyers for the forum were not immediately contacted for comment.
Is alcohol really that bad?
Alcohol comes at a huge cost to the country’s health system, says Charles Parry, who heads the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) unit on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
In 2015, about 62,300 deaths among South African adults were related to alcohol consumption, most among low-income groups, a study published in the journal found. BMC Medicine in 2018. That’s about 171 people per day.
These deaths were not only the result of, for example, drunk driving, but also included deaths attributable to diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and heart disease, so drinking may be a risk factor.
Although people in low-income groups were less likely to be drinkers, people at these income levels had a higher health burden from alcohol, the study found. This phenomenon is seen internationally and is partly related to inequality, explain researchers at the UK Institute for Alcohol Studies.
Parry cautions that because alcohol consumption can weaken the immune system, it can put drinkers at high risk for contracting the coronavirus and, if they do, develop severe symptoms of Covid-19.
Heavy drinkers, for example, are more likely to develop not only tuberculosis but also other respiratory diseases. When they get sick from these diseases, people who drink may experience worse symptoms, researchers warn in a 2015 article in the journal. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews.
Although less than half of South Africans drink, up to one in two who drink heavily, the country’s latest health and demographic survey and 2018 data from the World Health Organization show.
Parry says: “We are not a nation of moderate drinkers. Once we start, many drinkers do not stop until they are intoxicated.”
New research shows alcohol ban has worked so far
In February, prior to closure, South Africa received around 35,000 weekly admissions to hospital trauma units across the country.
But since the shutdown began, two-thirds of those admissions have disappeared, including 9,000 of which would have been alcohol-related admissions, according to an unpublished modeling study. The research was prepared by Parry and his MRC colleague Richard Matzopoulos, as well as the head of trauma services at the University of Cape Town, Andrew Nicol.
The mathematical model is based, in part, on data collected from trauma units at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg and at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
The model also assumes, for example, that movement restrictions continue, leading to fewer cars and people on the road, and that places like bars and shebeens remain closed. It also takes into account an increased risk of violence for women and children, as store-bought alcohol is consumed at home.
If the alcohol ban is lifted, according to the study, hospitals will likely see some of those trauma cases return.
The researchers write: “We estimate that just under 5,000 alcohol-related admissions to trauma units will reappear in a given week if alcohol sales are allowed during the shutdown.”
In other words, just over half of the 9,000 alcohol-related admissions that have disappeared since the closure began on March 26, will return, bringing the number of hospital admissions each week to between 12,000 and 13,000.
And Parry says that alcohol could increase the risk of people starting to mix, increasing the likelihood that the coronavirus will spread.
This is exactly what was imposed to ban liquor, the president’s attorneys write in their response to the forum.
“The prohibition on the sale of alcohol also aims to ensure compliance with closure regulations, social distancing protocols and proper hygiene practices by reducing or eliminating the number of people intoxicated.”
“Shebeens and taverns are places for socialization,” says public health attorney Safura Abdool Karim. She is also a principal investigator at the Center for Health Economics and Decision Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, called Priceless.
“People don’t just have a drink and go home. They socialize with each other and can spend a lot of time with their impaired judgment.”
“Allowing shebeens and taverns to operate specifically would severely undermine the blockade.”
This story was produced by the Bhekisisa Center for Health Journalism. Subscribe to the Newsletter.
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