Alcohol ban in South Africa to deal with COVID-19

Whilst countries have took differing approaches to the Covid-19 pandemic, I would say that South Africa has had the strangest approach yet. An approach that would probably wreak havoc in Scotland - a ban on alcohol and cigarettes. South Africa ranks behind the more populous US, Brazil, India and Russia with the fifth highest COVID-19 cases worldwide. Politicians in the country are still struggling to protect the public and provide adequate treatment, with their solutions being mirrored to that of prohibition times in the 1920s. 

I will give you an overview of the situation of COVID-19 in South Africa. Like any other country, it is struggling with the pandemic as there is a desperate shortage of critical care beds in cities like Johannesburg, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth as well as there being not enough staff to run the wards. Essential supplies like compressed oxygen are difficult to source while personal protective equipment is also often unavailable. There are long queues with too many people waiting to be tested in the country. People cannot isolate in overcrowded houses where sometimes there can be as many as 19 people living in a compound. 

Not all has been negative and I love to look at the positives of any situation. In South Africa, as a result of Covid-19, the number of South African rhinos killed by poachers fell by half in the first 6 months of the year. During the first 6 months of the year, 166 rhinos were poached in South Africa, compared with 316 in the first half of 2019. The minister of environment, Barabara Creecy, said that it was a drop of 53%. Creecy said: "We have been able to arrest the escalation of rhino losses." South Africa has for years battled with rhino poached due to the insatiable demand for their horns in Asia. Most of the demand originates from China and Vietnam where the horn is coveted as a traditional medicine, an aphrodisiac or a status symbol. The fall in rhino poaching can ultimately be due to the national travel restrictions, preventing many from travelling to South Africa. 

As well as a drop in the poaching of rhino horns, there has been a drop in alcohol sales. Well not a drop, a complete ban. A ban that has been introduced two times in the country this year in order to reduce accidents related to alcoholism and reduce the burden on the health care system. Zweli Mkhize, the health minister, says that admissions to trauma wards fell by 60-70% in April and May, when alcohol was prohibited during an initial stringent lockdown. When restrictions were eased in June, admissions rose. The ban was therefore reintroduced with the Medical Research Council estimated that an 8 week ban could allow for nearly 13,000 covid-19 patients to be treated in intensive-care units. 

South Africa is a country which can be said to have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Like everyone really. Less than a third of South Africa adults drink the stuff, but those who do drink it will drink twice as much as the average drinker. This can be linked to history where under apartheid black miners and factory workers lived in since-sex hostels away from their families. Drinking was a way to pass the time. In the winelands, mixed-race workers were given alcohol by farmers. 

The ban was lifted on Tuesday at 9am and across the country, enthusiastic customers bought alcohol and cigarettes. It was justified as necessary to prevent gatherings that would accelerate the spread of the virus and to protect the overstretched health service. Under the new regulations announced by the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, at the weekend, alcohol can be sold from Monday to Thursday between 9am and 5am.

Although this ban on alcohol and cigarettes was controversial, figures released by the police minister, Ben Bheki Cele, last week showed a steep drop in most crimes during the lockdown, especially murder and assault, and research in the Western Cape province showed that trauma admissions to hospitals dropped by half. However, there has been massive economic damage to key industries and an enormous growth in illicit sales. In one incident on Monday, six suspects were arrested after they were found loading boxes of illicit cigarettes worth millions on to a truck in south Johannesburg. Beer makers' associations said more than 10,000 bars had been forced to shit and the craft-brewing industry had been decimated, despite government assistance schemes. 

Ultimately, South African winemakers have suffered heavy losses, with many jobs threatened. The owner of Muratie wine estate, Rijk Melck, said: "I told my staff that we would soldier on and not get rid of anyone. We received some government support and our business partners in Europe were very good to us but these are very trying times and next year will not be easy." Melck, a former doctor, said that alcohol ban "did not make sense."  There is the worry that with the ban now lifting that people will go crazy with alcohol and it will give people the opportunity to get involved in fights resulting in some getting assaulted, stabbed or shot. 

Restricting sales took away a source of pleasure from the country. I wonder what it would have been like if a similar ban was imposed in Scotland. Whilst I do think there could be some positives, there are so many jobs relating to the alcohol industry in our country that the costs could outweigh the benefits. It also introduces the fear of a nanny-state - the right-wing enemy of our times. A state where the government controls us and tells us what to do.  This ban on alcohol in South Africa has been interpreted by some as a scapegoat for the government's failure to provide adequate healthcare. However, perhaps if we look to the fact that 40% of the 40,000 trauma cases in the country in a week are alcohol-related then we could understand that paired alongside the coronavirus, the health system cannot afford it right now.