On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation and reinstated the ban on the sale of alcohol. Here in the Western Cape, the harsh reality is that during Alert Level 4 and Hard Lockdown, when alcohol sales were initially banned, we saw a marked decrease in the number of murders. The link between alcohol and violence is well established in South Africa. As the government has said all of this 'roho safi', as it were, hopefully people have understood that the ban on alcohol sales is for their own good and they are not on some sort of forced rehab. There is really hardly any doubt that banning consumption of alcohol will reduce pressure on hospital emergency wards.

Source: The Star July 19, 2020 01:52 UTC