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By Sihle Mlambo 
1 hour ago
Durban – The Southern Africa Alcohol Policy Alliance in South Africa has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to reconsider the government’s stance on alcohol sales as the second wave and a new variant of Covid-19 continue to spread rapidly across the world. country.
As of Sunday night, more than a million people had been infected with the virus in the country since March, with just under 27,000 people losing their lives and just over 840,000 people recovering from the virus.
The majority of Covid-related deaths have occurred in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal.
The National Coronavirus Command Council reportedly met on Sunday and extensive consultations with various provinces and stakeholders are expected to take place before Ramaphosa addresses the nation.
SAAPA SA director Maurice Smithers said the alcohol industry was concerned about the ban on the sale of alcohol and the resulting economic impact on the industry.
He said that while they were sympathetic to his plight, the alcohol industry had not followed through on its promise to ensure that alcohol outlets adhere to Covid-19 protocols.
SAAPA SA has also asked the government to prohibit the advertising of alcoholic beverages during the state of disaster.
“Furthermore, we believe that his approach, like his long-standing and equally unsuccessful ‘drinking responsibly’ campaign, is designed more to protect your bottom line and sound good than to address the fundamental drivers of the harmful use of alcohol, which is also affordable. , too readily available and aggressively marketed.
“SAAPA SA, however, agrees with the NLTC that a total ban is not the best response to the crisis, given the likely unintended consequences. Instead, we support the call by Professor Charles Parry and Dr. Nandi Siegfried for new measures to reduce excessive alcohol use and their contribution to the second wave of Covid-19, “said Smithers.
SAAPA SA wants the government to suspend all alcohol consumption on site in bars, restaurants and taverns, as well as to prohibit alcohol promotions and discounts.
“Allowing the industry to advertise directly undermines government and healthcare workers’ efforts to get people to cut back.”
They have also called for meetings to be limited to 50 people and for the curfew to be maintained.
“We are aware that the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) is meeting to discuss how to respond to the current situation and we urge you to seriously consider acting on these proposals.
“Perhaps most importantly, the government must now start taking steps to permanently reduce alcohol-related harm in South Africa. What is critical about the stress in hospital trauma units is not just that people in need of treatment take away their beds from Covid-19 cases as a result of alcohol-related car accidents, assaults and gender-based violence.
“They are also a permanent and costly burden on our healthcare system, especially on weekends when the ‘unmistakable combined smell of blood and alcohol’ (an observation by Associate Professor Sithombo Maqungo from Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town) permeates the waiting rooms and the corridors and emergency rooms of our hospitals.
“It is simply intolerable for government and society to ignore this unnecessary waste of public resources and the terrible and continuing cost of alcohol-related harm to the lives of people in communities across the country.”
MESS
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