Johannesburg – The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance in SA (Saapa SA), its 100 civil society alliance partners and the parents whose children died at the Enyobeni tavern, have held a demonstration outside the lawns of the State of the Nation Address.
They are calling for the government to take immediate action to address alcohol harm and liquor sales to minors.
Saapa SA spokesperson Terri-Liza Fortein said swift action was required from the government to change the situation in communities.
“In June 2022 we saw the Enyobeni tragedy resulting in the deaths of 21 children under the age of 18 in a tavern. Following this incident Saapa SA implored the president to act urgently to avoid a repeat of such a tragedy and on Christmas Day last year two more children died in a tavern in Hofmeyr, also in the Eastern Cape.”
Saapa SA has also urged the government to pass new laws to reduce alcohol harm and to bolster enforcement of existing laws to curb under-age drinking, decrease levels of gender-based violence, decrease drinking and then driving, and all other negative impacts of alcohol harm on South Africans.
“The Liquor Amendment Bill of 2017 must be passed urgently. The clauses in the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill proposing that alcohol can be sold at school functions must be scrapped,” said Fortein.
In addition, Saapa has also called for the government to:
• Resource the enforcement of existing laws;
• Put an immediate end to the sale of liquor to minors;
• Increase the price of alcohol;
• Reduce the availability of alcohol;
• Ban alcohol advertising to the point of sale;
• Increase the legal drinking age to 21.
“The South African Alcohol Policy Alliance is very clear we expect President Ramaphosa to address alcohol harm in his Sona speech and we want justice and accountability for the deaths of the now 23 teenagers who died in taverns last year,” said Fortein.
IOL