Ban alcohol ads to save society – Malema

Julius Malema has called for a complete ban on alcohol advertising – but his statement is unlikely to alarm the alcohol industry, nor would it increase votes for his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) next year.

Instead, according to political analysts, the EFF would find an ally in the anti-alcohol lobby, which may use his statement to reinforce its campaign for the banning of liquor advertising.

Besides, they said, Malema’s call was a narrow issue that carried no weight, in the same mould as the nationalisation of land, mines and banks.

Malema, addressing a media breakfast briefing in Johannesburg yesterday, said since alcohol was responsible for many societal problems, including road fatalities and domestic violence, its advertisement must be banned.

“We can all agree that alcohol is at the centre of many ills in our society, alcohol is at the centre of gender-based violence,” he said.

Malema, who himself has adopted a healthy lifestyle, hit out at alcohol manufacturers for placing adverts in the public domain. He said these advertisements encouraged South Africans to worship booze, despite it being destructive.

“Drinking does not produce posh people who live an upper-life. Drinking makes the reasonable unreasonable; it makes fools and the state of general stupidity to flourish,” he said.

There was no evidence that dagga was responsible for social ills but it was banned in the country. But alcohol was not, although there was ample evidence that it was destroying society.

However, political analyst Dumisani Hlophe said Malema could say anything he wanted because the EFF wasn’t the government, nor official opposition, and that his statement would not raise an industry alarm, nor make an impact.

“This is not the kind of statement that can bring votes or political mileage for EFF,” he said. “It will only help the campaign by anti-alcohol lobbyists, who will see Malema as an ally. I don’t see him making an impact …”

But another analyst, Daniel Silke, said the EFF was trying to broaden its platform and show that its policies were not limited to the land question and nationalisation of mines and banks.

“There seems to be a desire by the EFF to be a leading moralist player in South African politics. They want to extend their policy footprint beyond politics to include societal matters such as healthcare and, now, their fight against alcohol advertising,” Silke said.

The party was broadening the platform so as to appeal as champions of morality.

According to Hlophe, Malema’s statement could also be attributed to his own experience after having adopted a healthy lifestyle.

On the land issue, Malema said urban land remained unaffordable to black people but that with state intervention, it was possible to acquire it.

He said no foreigner would be given a long-term lease of land, but only locals.

It was possible for business and investors to operate on state-owned land, such as commercial businesses that rented on property owned by Transnet and the like.

The EFF was busy doing a survey of all businesses that operated on state land to prove this point.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

READ MORE: New liquor laws’ implementation a step closer

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