“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has blood shot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to the sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high sees, lying on top of the rigging. ‘They hit me’, you will say, ‘but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?’ “ Proverbs 23:29-35

South Africa’s President is on the move to impose higher fees and restrictions on liquor industries for the “harm” it posses on civilization.

Speaking at the opening of the 2nd Biennial Summit on Substance Abuse in Durban, Zuma said liquor advertisement is impacting negatively to the society where industries adverts “glorify alcohol and which portray it as providing the ultimate enjoyment and fancy lifestyle”.

“If you visit KwaMashu, Umlazi or Soweto, you will notice many billboards that advertise alcohol, but if you go to Durban North you will not see one. I think that picture must change,” he said.

Reiterating, further restrictions on alcohol will be imposed on the number of liquor outlets in an area with higher expunge taxes. Moneys raised from these taxes will be channeled into a national fund for charities.

“We must not make it easy for people to get to taverns and shebeens. When we look at these businesses, it is not good business if it affects the nation.”

According to Timeslive, government had opened public debate on increasing the legal drinking age from 18 to 21.

“Whatever the outcome of this debate, it should enable us to raise awareness about the need to deal with the problem,” Zuma said.

National police Chief Bheki Cele declared his support for a crackdown on underage drinking.

“If you are giving alcohol to 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds we will shut you down and that’s not negotiable. Adding, “We want to support the proposal because [it is painful] to know that we have been so tolerant with alcohol,” he said.

Cele mentioned a tavern in KwaZulu-Natal that let out rooms to pupils where they had sex and consumed alcohol.

“I can assure you that there is more than alcohol that is being sold in these places. We will shut down every illegal tavern in South Africa.

“People complain that we are too harsh and I tell them that we haven’t even started yet,” Cele said.

The summit will address liquor laws, which differ from province to province.

Deputy director-general in the Department of Trade and Industry Zodwa Ntuli said trading hours varied in provinces, and called for a harmonised national Liquor Act, which would improve enforcement.

It is estimated that up to 30% of general hospital admissions in South Africa are directly or indirectly related to alcohol use.

A clinical assessment of general hospital admissions found alcohol to be a contributing factor in general trauma cases: in 38% of the admissions in the Cape metropolitan area and 49% in rural communities alcohol was found to be a contributing factor.

48% of trauma patients admitted to the casualty department of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto on a Saturday night were found to be intoxicated.

Almost 80% of all assault patients – both male and female – presented at an urban hospital Trauma Unit in Cape Town were either found to be under the influence of alcohol or injured because of alcohol related violence.

In another study, over 50% of non-natural deaths received at state mortuaries in Cape Town had high levels of blood alcohol concentrations. 58% of people fatally injured in train related trauma (who either fell from or walked in front of trains) in Cape Town had high blood alcohol concentrations. 60% of pedestrians involved in collision traumas on the road and then treated in a hospital trauma unit were found to have high blood alcohol concentrations. Over 50% of those who had died by drowning in greater Cape Town, over a ten year period, were found to have high concentrations of alcohol in their blood stream.

One study found that the incidence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) in Cape Town is 1 per 281 live births. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome occurs in infants born to women who drink heavily during pregnancy. Signs of this syndrome include mental retardation, poor motor co-ordination, hyper activity, facial abnormalities and malformation of organ systems. Amongst the poorer communities, the incidence of Fetal Alcohol effects are consistently high.

The Medical Research Council’s National Trauma Research Programme reports that 67% of domestic violence in the Cape Metropolitan area was alcohol related. In a study of women abused by their spouses, 69% identified alcohol/drug abuse as the main cause of conflict leading to the abuse.

76% of domestic violence in rural areas in the South-Western Cape was found to be alcohol related.

The National Institute of Crime Prevention and Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO) has reported that alcohol contributes substantially to the high incidence of crime in the country. Their study found that just under half of all male prisoners had consumed alcohol or drugs at the time of, or before committing, their most recent crime.

The Medical Research Council has found that alcohol has a negative effect on the business community due to absenteeism, poor productivity, high job turnover, interpersonal conflicts, injuries and damage to property.

One study in the Orange Free State found that 20% of gold mine workers involved in occupational injuries had high concentrations of alcohol in their blood streams.

The Medical Research Council’s National Trauma Research Programme has estimated that alcohol related costs associated with pedestrian trauma alone are in excess of $83 million per year.

The Transport Ministry has estimated that motor vehicle collisions cost the country at least $1,5 billion per year and that at least 50% of these vehicle accidents are alcohol related. The economic costs associated with alcohol abuse in the work place are likely to be in excess of $1,7 billion (2% of the gross national product) per year.

The National Injury Surveillance System in its “Profile of Fatal and Non-fatal Injuries in South Africa” of May 2000, states that South Africa has “one of the highest per capita alcohol consumption in the world” and “more that three-quarters of homicides perpetrated with a sharp object are alcohol related”.

Approximately 40% of firearm and 58% of blunt instrument homicide victims have consumed alcohol prior to their fatal injury. Not only are those perpetrating the crimes likely to be under the influence of alcohol, but the victims also tend to have much higher alcohol levels as well.

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Tags: Cape Metropolitan, Cape Town, South Africa, women

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