Avoid Alcohol Completely
If you drink, keep it to a minimum.
Immunesystem weakened by alcohol, especially if you drink heavily
Reducibility to deal with infectious diseases
It can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Drinkingalso increases risk of domestic violence
But how can such a draconian and unprecedented crackdown be imposed for weeks or more if South Africa’s lockdown, which will end on 30 April, is extended again?
The person responsible for enforcing the new ban has angered some quarters by appearing to inspire security forces to crack down, and potentially illegally, against those who break the rules.
There are already very disturbing examples, the beating death of a guy caught drinking in his own backyard.
Police Minister Bheki Cele, for his abrasive language and swaggering enthusiasm for banning alcohol, recently warned that his forces would “destroy the infrastructure where alcohol is sold. “
“It is deeply troubling to see high-level political leaders encouraging police officers to use violence, force or break the law. It looks like the Policing Minister has disgraced himself,” said Gareth Newham, a criminology expert at the South African Institute of Security. Studies.
First, South Africa’s alcohol industry attempted to challenge the ban in court, arguing that it was unconstitutional and was filed without consultation. He has since backtracked.
But while many in the industry recognize the importance of supporting national efforts to combat the virus, there is some frustration with a “one-size-fits-all” technique that is causing significant damage to many businesses.
“It’s not looking good at all,” said Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela, the country’s first black female brewery owner and chair of South Africa’s Beer Association, who fears her small business may go under if the ban continues for much longer.
“The arguments against lifting the ban make sense. Many other people are unemployed and alcohol is an escape drug,” he acknowledged, but said a more complicated technique, perhaps allowing limited sales of alcohol, could save his collapse industry. .
“It could be game over for us,” agreed Nick Smith, an American who owns a craft brewery outside Cape Town.
“This universal rule has a fundamental impact on small businesses like ours,” Smith added.
This argument is echoed by South Africa’s official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which favors a “smart lockdown model” that would allow other people to buy alcohol for a few hours a day.
But another party, the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), called the DA’s proposal “murderous” and “racist” because the existing ban appears to have the maximum positive effect on the health of the most vulnerable communities. Poor, most commonly black.
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Many compare South Africa’s ban to the infamous decade-long U. S. crackdown that began in 1920 as a reaction to campaigns by devout and ethical teams and was immortalized in Hollywood in films such as Some Like It Hot and The Untouchables.
As with the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone, there are fears that alcohol prohibition could simply push the sector here into the hands of criminals who already make up a lucrative percentage of South Africa’s tobacco industry.
“The longer the blockade lasts, the more criminal networks will be able to take advantage of their ability to sell and distribute alcohol,” Newham confirmed, warning that the government was already squandering a fortune on taxes for prohibition.
31% of people over the age of 15 drink
59% are heavy drinkers or heavy drinkers.
26% of alcohol is produced or produced illegally.
Up to 60,000of sale and distribution outlets are licensed
About 120,000are not
The ban tapped into deep undercurrents here in South Africa, an apartheid country in which black citizens were once not allowed to drink in public and some employees were even paid with alcohol, leading to huge social problems.
“We South Africans don’t have an intelligent relationship with alcohol. Over the years, it’s something that has eluded us to some extent,” said Ms Nxusani-Mawela.
But as things stand, one aspect of the ban does appear to be uniting people from different walks of life. It has created a new enthusiasm for home brewing, which has always been a firm fixture in rural communities.
Videos and recipes for more classic pineapple and corn and sorghum beer, known as “umqombothi,” are now widely circulated on social media, along with warnings that such drinks, if prepared incorrectly, can prove dangerous.
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