Limpopo alcohol sales ban: New liquor law is okay

I am writing this column reluctantly because I happen to share my surname with the current Limpopo MEC for economic development, Rodgers Monama.

We don’t even share the same ideological outlook. The MEC recently passed a law that prohibits the sale of alcohol after midnight.

Mind you, the law only prohibits the sale and not consumption.

Now, the liquor traders have taken the MEC to court, seeking the reversal, or the complete withdrawal, of that law.

These Alcohol Lords were surprisingly joined by artists in their pursuit of perpetuating the growth of a drunk society.

I wonder how this affects comedians whose main business is to make us sit and laugh.

How does a drunk person even comprehend a joke?

We are now having people challenging a law that only attempts to bring some sanity within our communities.

We also know very well how alcohol destroys our communities.

We also know very well that our teenagers, pupils and students have now become the biggest clientele to the shebeens and taverns.

READ: Liquor traders meet with Limpopo MEC over new alcohol curfew

Isn’t it shocking for people – who are themselves, parents – to have the audacity and courage to go to court in defence of the destruction of society?

Isn’t it a shame that we, black people, can support businesses we know destroy the future of this country?

Isn’t it about time black parents stand up against these shebeen kings, queens and tavern operators in the interest of the future of our children?

The black communities in the townships and village are disinterested and broken, largely because of drugs and alcohol abuse.

How much more are we willing to tolerate this destruction of our children? We should be bold enough and say any business that destroys the future of our children, is no business at all.

READ: How to relax without alcohol

It is the enemy of our people.

Those who go to the courts to seek orders to feed our communities with poison, should rather use their energies to take government to court because of our ever-collapsing public infrastructure, such as our clinics, hospitals, police stations, schools and roads.

They will, however, not do that because they thrive on the basis of sick, destroyed and hopeless communities.

Fighting to have healthy communities free of alcohol and drugs is not in their interest. An aimless, futureless and dying society is the basis of their profiteering.

If I could have it my way, I would propose trading hours to end by 11pm, a very hefty fine for any shebeen king, queen or tavern operator found to be selling any alcohol to children.

I would also pass a law which prohibits operators who allow anyone bellow the age of 25 to be their patrons or customers.

READ: Up in arms: Controversial liquor act sparks panic in Limpopo

Part of their hefty fines will include funding the drug and alcohol rehab centres, and they must do community work at those centres.

You will all remember that the apartheid system of government made a law that prohibited black people from purchasing alcohol, let alone consuming it.

When they realised that we were sober, thinking and planning how to remove it, the government quickly abolished that law.

The rest is history.

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Pule Monama is an independent commentator and a former Azapo leader