The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) met the South African Liquor Traders’ Association (Salta) in Johannesburg on Wednesday to discuss a proposed liquor ban on Sundays.
The league proposed to ban Sunday liquor sales after its annual national executive committee’s lekgotla (meeting) two weeks ago.
”The ANCYL will propose that all clubs and taverns be banned from selling liquor on Sundays and their trading hours should be limited and closed at 2am,” said league president Fikile Mbalula after the lekgotla.
At a press conference in Johannesburg following the meeting on Wednesday, Salta chairperson Saint Madlala said: ”We have a lot in common between our companies but we do not agree on the methodology.”
He said the association agrees in principle on acting to curb alcohol and substance abuse among the youth. ”We as traders have decided on our own not to sell liquor to people younger than 21. We would rather lift up the age limit,” he said.
Mbalula described the proposed ban as a part of a campaign to improve the psychology of youth to lead healthy lifestyles.
”It’s to enhance a society that is caring,” he said. ”We have to fight this issue of excessive drinking. Most of the young people, we are in the townships. We are unemployed and drinking is the only form of entertainment. The poorest of the poor, the black and the African, are the hardest hit.”
Mbalula said the ANCYL and Salta have agreed to work together on the problem of liquor abuse among the youth and that each of them will return to their constituencies to debate the matter further.
He said the league is exploring a multipronged approach to the problem. ”We are engaging church ministers, non-governmental organisations that have done research on this [topic]; we are meeting with Soul City next week and we will approach the minister of health and the parliamentary standing committee on health.”
The league also wants to engage schools on the issue.
The ban is ”not a question of religion, it’s a question of society”, he said when asked why the ban is proposed for Sundays. ”It’s a question of control of alcohol and how we deal with it,” he added. — Sapa