Queues formed outside liquor stores on Tuesday as rumours abounded of a new ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages.
The rumours were apparently prompted by a widely distributed voice note, which went in part: ‘The bottle stores are closing tonight. The president is talking because of all the accidents happening and the cops were killed in the accidents. So, I’m just letting you know the bottle stores will be closing.’
The supposed ban was in response to alcohol-related trauma over the past weekend, following the lifting of the prohibition. It is unclear just how many people believed that a reinstatement of the ban was imminent, but the fact that it had been lifted and then reimposed in the past probably made the threat credible.
Meanwhile, on Monday, transport minister Fikile Mbalula called for laws on access to alcohol to be amended. Commenting on an incident in which three Tshwane Metro police officers were killed in a collision, he said: ‘There is over access [to] alcohol. People are out of control in terms of alcohol. We must now put our heads together –when government acts, nobody should say it is unfair. It’s not about corona, this thing has been there.’
[Picture: Wil Stewart on Unsplash]