The prohibition on the sale of liquor as part of the lockdown, recently relaxed as South Africa moved to Level 3, may be reinstated – at least according to voicenotes and social media speculation.
It is not clear where this originated, but government spokespeople have denied knowledge of such plans. Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko told the media that ‘No such calls have been tabled before the National Coronavirus Command Council at this point.’
A spike in trauma cases as the ban was relaxed to allow for limited trade last week has prompted concern. Premier of the Western Cape, Alan Winde, commented: ‘We have spent all this time and energy to make sure that our health response is ready, we fought really hard to make sure that we get to level 3 in this province and now I’m being let down.’
His counterpart in the Eastern Cape, Oscar Mabuyane, has indicated that he will propose reintroducing the ban in his province. ‘We had high incidents on our roads, and we had a lot of reports of gender-based violence on the basis that people were drunk. It is really not about people enjoying themselves. It has contributed to moral decay. It has really eroded our societal moral fibre,’ he said.
He pointed out that between 1 June and 7 June, the Eastern Cape saw 3 141 criminal cases linked to alcohol.