Hitting the bottle — alcohol is destroying the future of SA’s young people

As the sun sets over South Africa’s villages and townships, a haunting new ritual takes place. It is a ritual not of traditional celebration or communal gathering, but of deep-seated social erosion. As someone born in a village and raised in a township, I have seen far too many talented young lives ruined and prematurely ended by the bottle. Talents that shone at local soccer tournaments and in local entertainment circles only to disappear in a haze of substance abuse.

This past festive season, the scale of this crisis was impossible to ignore. From the dusty roads of rural villages to the bustling hubs of townships, alcohol has transitioned from a social lubricant to the primary, and often only source of recreation.

Most alarming is the normalisation of underage drinking. Taverns and clubs are filled to the brim with young children consuming alcohol without hesitation or shame, operating in a space where law enforcement is invisible and communal guardrails have buckled.

The scale of our national “thirst” is staggering. In 2025, daily spending on alcohol in South Africa averaged R414-million. During the peak of the festive season, this figure nearly tripled to more than R1-billion a day as celebrations turned into a dangerous spiral of overindulgence.

Read more: South Africans raise a different glass as 2025 shows fragmented palates

The South African Medical Association has warned that increased alcohol consumption during the festive season places severe strain on hospitals, particularly emergency units and trauma centres, resulting in increased trauma cases, overcrowding, and longer waiting times.

This massive expenditure exists in a vacuum of opportunity. According to Statistics South Africa, youth unemployment of those aged 15 to 24 hit a record high of 62.4% in 2025. For millions of young people, there is no job to wake up for and no facility to visit. The void left by dilapidated or non-existent recreational centres is being filled by alcohol, which has become the cheapest and most accessible form of “escape” from a harsh economic reality.

While the financial figures are grim, the human cost is even more devastating, particularly for young women and girls. A June 2025 study by the National Shelter Movement of South Africa revealed a shocking reality: approximately 82.8% of young African women in impoverished areas engage in transactional relationships with older men to meet basic needs.

High-risk dynamics

Driven by a lack of financial security and the absence of protective social infrastructure, these women are forced into high-risk dynamics that often lead to gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy and lifelong psychological trauma. When we fail to provide safe, functional spaces for our young people, we effectively hand them over to exploiters who use the current economic crisis as leverage.

Read more: Jingle bells or alarm bells? Rethinking our relationship with alcohol this festive season

We cannot claim to be building a sustainable future while allowing our young people’s potential to be drowned in easy alcohol access. The downward spiral of our social fabric is not an accident; it is the predictable outcome of neglecting youth infrastructure in favour of a lucrative liquor trade.

To stop this disintegration, the following steps must be taken:

• Infrastructure investment: We need a massive reinvestment in functional recreational facilities — sports centres, libraries and art facilities that offer a genuine alternative to taverns and pubs.
• Enforcement of law: Authorities must move beyond “calls for caution” and actively shut down establishments that serve and entice minors.
• Economic opportunity: Addressing the 62.4% youth unemployment crisis is the only way to remove the “economic vacuum” that drives both substance abuse and transactional exploitation.

Our villages and townships are increasingly becoming graveyards for young talent. They have become ecosystems where alcohol consumption and its related activities are normalised pastimes for young people. We must replace the bottle with opportunity before the social fabric of our communities unravels beyond repair. DM

Kenneth Diole is a co-founder of YT Consulting Africa, a boutique research and advisory firm focusing on youth development in Africa.