NEED TO KNOW
SOUTH AFRICA
Prohibition Redux
South Africa banned alcohol and tobacco in the face of harrowing Covid-19 infection rate increases.
Officials said they were following expert advice in watching out for public health.
Smokers, for example, should kick the habit during the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. They have a higher risk of death from Covid-19. “There are good reasons for people to quit, and especially (in) this time of Covid-19,” said Catherine Egbe, a scientist at the South African Medical Research Council, in an interview with the Associated Press.
In March, South Africa imposed one of the earliest and most draconian lockdowns of any country and successfully flattened the curve. Analysts said the restrictions brought down the death rate to about 1 percent, among the lowest in the world.
South Africa rolled back its confinement and, as it did, the virus began to spread faster. South Africa is now reporting more than 10,000 cases a day.
Along with this, the government eased some of the restrictions for alcohol and tobacco but reinstated them as the pandemic worsened. During a period when alcohol sales were briefly permitted, people lined up at stores to stock up, Quartz explained.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa banned alcohol because, he said, it increased the number of trauma cases in hospitals already overwhelmed by the virus, and made it more likely for folks to break curfews and rules against congregating, Voice of America reported.
“In the midst of our national effort to fight against this virus, a number of people have taken to organizing parties, who have drinking sprees, and some who walk in crowded spaces without the protection of masks,” he said.
Meanwhile, illicit tobacco sales have shot up, the BBC wrote, creating a potential un-monitored trade that might spread the virus as officials are trying to cut infections. An opinion piece in the South African news outlet Independent Online described a burgeoning bootlegging industry while the legitimate businesses that employ thousands and generate tax revenues are withering on the vine.
South Africa has nine million smokers and many of them are desperate. Take this message on a WhatsApp group used by suburban moms in South Africa, ABC News noted. Amid the complaints about taking care of kids during the lockdown, one “desperate mama” asked: “Does anyone know where to get illegal cigarettes? I just need a few. I’m desperate.”
Writing in the Daily Maverick, a South African news magazine, public relations consultant Emma King said that South African Breweries, one of the original companies that went on to become the Belgian-American beer juggernaut Anheuser-Busch InBev, put around 250,000 people to work in its supply chain earlier this year before the lockdowns and bans took place. Those jobs are now in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, the bans have become a national conversation about the power of government, the truthfulness of politicians, personal freedom and civil liberties and public health, Al Jazeera wrote. The alcohol industry, meanwhile, has offered to launch programs to curb irresponsible drinking, Bloomberg reported.
Trauma has declined likely due to the alcohol ban. But the coronavirus cases in South Africa continue to climb worryingly. While some attack the president for taking away their smokes and tipples, Ramaphosa’s political opponents have criticized him not moving quickly or decisively enough to quell the virus, for example, re-imposing lockdowns, wrote National Public Radio.
The president says that a new lockdown would cause more harm than good. Instead, he begged South Africans to take personal responsibility, wear masks, keep a distance from each other and stop gathering.
“This is in our collective hands,” he said. “Let us remember that every individual action that we undertake does and can make a big difference. Now more than ever we are responsible for the lives of those around us.”
