Shoppers queue to buy alcohol at the Makro Liquor Store, Clearwater Crossing in Roodepoort, 1 June 2020, on the first day South Africa moved to Level 3 lockdown as part of its efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Picture: Michel Bega
It sounds bizarre. Keep yourself safe from Covid-19 by boozing at home. But that is essentially the argument of some in the liquor business who claim the recent ban on off-site alcohol sales was illogical.
Yet, is the claim that irrational?
The booze business is correct in its assertion that, when they sell alcohol for consumption off-site, it is a process which conforms to Covid-19 protocols, including mask-wearing, social distancing and hand sanitising.
If the drink is taken home, so the argument runs, then the drinker will be much safer than consuming booze on-site, at a restaurant or a shebeen, where safety protocols are often not observed.
Sadly, though, that claim ignores the reality of the high incidence of domestic violence, in the home, directly linked to alcohol abuse.
While both arguments have merit, the real problem is South Africans’ attitude to alcohol. Whether they buy booze off-site or consume it on-site, they are still likely to get out of hand and careless about their own safety and that of others.
No amount of threats or restrictions will change that – as all the booze smuggling and abusive behaviour during last year’s hard lockdown showed only too clearly.
Alcohol is South Africa’s deadly co-morbidity.
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