In our experience as alcohol harm reduction (AHR) activists, the desire for an alcohol-safer South Africa is common to most communities across the country. It seems reasonable, therefore, to expect political parties and independents contesting our 29 May elections to have a plan to address this particular issue of concern for their constituents. To find out if they do, we did a quick survey of 19 election manifestos.

We were motivated to do so, in part, after facilitating eight focus group sessions across four provinces, each session involving 10 young people, age bracket 16 – 35. Almost all participants are unemployed and unlikely to get work anytime soon. Most are unable to improve their education — and their job prospects — because they lack resources or there are no tertiary educational facilities nearby. A common complaint was the lack of recreational facilities in their communities, which left them — like so many other young people — with only one option if they wanted to socialise with others … hang out at an alcohol outlet.

Asked for a check-list of alcohol-related harm in their neighbourhoods, they gave disturbingly similar responses — gender-based violence including rape; drink driving injuries and deaths; broken homes; ‘arrested development’ for learners, students and working people; damaged internal organs; crime; putting oneself in danger; unplanned, unwanted pregnancies; unemployment; health problems; damaged personal relationships; parental neglect/child abuse; threats to the safety and wellbeing of community members (eg noise, traffic problems, public urination, interpersonal violence).

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They had little or no knowledge of liquor legislation and their right to protect themselves and their communities from alcohol-related harm, e.g. through submitting objections to liquor licence applications or lodging complaints against non-compliant outlets. Challenged on whether they would object to a liquor licence application now that they knew they could, they said they might, but would be worried about the applicant targeting them for ‘interfering’ in his or her business.

Most were drinkers themselves but believed alcohol harm reduction was necessary to make their neighbourhoods alcohol-safer places. But they were sceptical that it would happen because “everyone here drinks and they’ll fight us if we start an AHR campaign” and “there is so much corruption, from police to politicians”.

AHR a priority for parties?

Could the elections offer hope to them and others wanting alcohol-safer communities? To try and answer that question, we turned to the manifestos released by:

African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP); Action SA; Al Jama-ah; African National Congress (ANC); African Transformation Movement (ATM); Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo); Build One South Africa (Bosa); Congress of the People (Cope); Democratic Alliance (DA); Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF); Freedom Front Plus (FF+); Good Party; Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP); uMkhonto Wesizwe party (MKP); Patriotic Alliance (PA); Pan Africanist Congress (PAC); Rise Mzansi; the United Democratic Front (UDM); and Zackie Achmat, most prominent of the independent candidates standing for the first time in a national and provincial election.

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We searched for particular words or phrases which might indicate a commitment to AHR. The words drink, drunk, alcohol, drug and substance feature in some, but ‘liquor’ in none, meaning none specifically refers to Liquor Acts, national or provincial, and the possibility of strengthening them to reduce alcohol-related harm. That said, we can’t conclude categorically that such change isn’t being considered by some — for example, while there is nothing on this issue in his manifesto, Zackie Achmat is reported in a GroundUp article as promising to “bring amendments to the Liquor Act (to) ban alcohol advertising and its sale in the vicinity of schools”.

‘Drug’ features in 17 out of 19 manifestos, but alcohol in only seven and liquor in none, highlighting a general tendency to see the use of other recreational drugs as a serious problem, but consumption of alcohol (itself a drug) as normal and acceptable. (Graphic: Supplied)

The terms ‘alcohol’, ‘drug’ and/or ‘substance’ feature in many reactive pledges to provide more treatment and rehabilitation options or to have more effective enforcement against those breaking the law. But there are few undertakings to put in place proactive measures, legislative or otherwise, to change the culture of drinking and the potential for alcohol-related harm. The exceptions, with only one (EFF) explicitly mentioning legislative change, are ANC, EFF, Rise Mzansi, and UDM.

Only two parties — DA and EFF — think driving under the influence of alcohol is important enough to mention, even though the country has a major problem with alcohol-related traffic injuries and deaths.

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Fairly or unfairly, shebeens (unlicensed liquor outlets) and taverns are widely regarded as hotspots for alcohol-related harm. Nevertheless, they are only mentioned by four parties — which call for shebeens to be shut down and/or for stricter monitoring of taverns near schools — including ACDP, Al Jama-ah, ANC and Rise Mzansi.

Underage drinking prevalence

There are nationwide concerns about underage drinking, especially after the Enyobeni Tavern tragedy in East London in June 2022 in which 21 underage school learners died. Yet, only the ANC mentions underage drinking.

As participants in our focus groups indicated, young people in our country feel neglected, believing government and society don’t care about them. Not much motivates them to get out of bed every day — so alcohol and other drugs become their means of dealing with stress and hopelessness, and alcohol outlets are the only place they can socialise with friends.

The manifestos do indicate that parties are concerned about the education and employment challenges confronting young people. A number of them suggest national/military service as a way of involving youth in work and skills development.

But only Al Jama-ah, ANC, DA, Rise Mzansi and UDM seem to recognise, each in their own way, that alcohol-related harm is a greater risk for young people than other demographics and needs specific attention.

Many young people call for equitable provision of public facilities for sport, recreation and other ‘diversionary activities’, especially in disadvantaged communities, given that they offer developmental ways of spending their time and a productive alternative to hanging out in alcohol outlets. Parties addressing this particular issue include Action SA, Al Jama-ah, ANC, ATM, Cope, EFF, PA, Rise Mzansi and UDM.

Alcohol and violence

Crime and general interpersonal violence are highlighted by almost all parties, but there is little acknowledgement of the causal links between the use of alcohol and these pervasive social challenges. This applies in the case of gender-based violence (GBV) as well, which is particularly concerning given that alcohol is widely reported to be implicated in a majority of GBV cases, a reality emphasised at the 2018 Presidential Summit on GBV and Femicide.

So, do the manifestos offer hope of an alcohol-safer future, especially for young people? A glimmer of hope, perhaps — in those of ANC, EFF and Rise Mzansi in particular.

However, many people will say the ANC has had ample opportunity to deal with the issue and failed to do so. Others will say that the EFF and Rise Mzansi have yet to be tested because they have not been in government. (The EFF can be commended, though, for their 2018 tabling of a Private Member’s Bill calling for alcohol advertising to be banned. It didn’t get anywhere, but they did try.)

Lack of political commitment to AHR

Politicians make promises before elections that many fail to honour after the dust of the voting process has settled. But, even if that weren’t the case, none of the manifestos surveyed indicates a definitive commitment to alcohol harm reduction, nor do they reveal sufficient understanding of the complexities of alcohol-related harm and what is needed to reduce it.

We are aware that some people don’t see the need for alcohol harm reduction at all. Others are wary of legislative measures to control the sale and consumption of alcohol because they see the liquor industry as an important contributor to the country’s GDP and to job creation. Many consider alcohol harm reduction as less of a priority than other pressing socio-economic issues, even though there is general consensus amongst alcohol harm reduction activists and researchers that the unrestrained availability and use of alcohol are implicated in many of those ‘pressing’ issues. Therefore, addressing them will, in part, require adoption of an effective alcohol harm reduction strategy.

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During the Covid-19 years, restrictions on access to alcohol — ranging from no access at all to limited availability — saw a significant decrease in a number of alcohol-related harms, leading many inside government and in civil society to call for more effective legislation to mitigate those harms permanently. It is regrettable that, since the threat of Covid-19 diminished and the return to ‘normality’, there has been a deafening silence in this regard. Government now seems more focused on rebuilding the economy than preventing alcohol-related harm.

Meanwhile, the liquor industry is seizing the opportunity to buy favour and ‘persuade’ government not to adopt more restrictive liquor legislation. They are doing this by promising to increase their investment in the country and create more jobs, and by providing funding for government projects.

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It seems unlikely, therefore, that alcohol harm reduction will be a priority, legislative or otherwise, for whoever is in government after 29 May. So, as someone once famously asked: What is to be done? How can the electorate — our youth in particular — ensure that the health, safety and well-being of people in communities across the country are not compromised by both the lack of political will on the part of our elected representatives and the relentless pursuit of profit by the liquor industry?

A good start is to understand the constitutional and legislative framework governing liquor licensing in our country and the rights it confers on citizens to intervene to protect themselves and their communities from alcohol-related harm. This knowledge will empower individuals and organisations to demand an enabling environment in which they can exercise those rights fully and effectively. This requires transparency, responsiveness and accountability from all spheres of government and government agencies responsible for ensuring that the public is protected from alcohol-related harm. It means, as one participant in our focus groups said, working to create a society in which “communities aren’t controlled by taverns — taverns are controlled by communities”. DM

Thuli Shongwe is the former senior researcher at Soul City. Maurice Smithers is the former Director of the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance in South Africa (Saapa SA)