The government is concerned about the effect that the ban on the sale of alcohol is having on the economy and livelihoods but it insists that this has to be balanced with the burden liquor places on hospital trauma units.
This is according to co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who filed reasons this week in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria why the ban on the sale of alcohol had to be reintroduced.
She said incidents caused by the consumption of alcohol have recently amounted to half of all trauma cases in public hospitals, putting a strain on much-needed resources as the country fights the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dlamini-Zuma was responding to a court application by nine wine producers and a non-profit organisation who went to the high court pleading for government's decision to ban the sale and transportation of alcohol products, including wine, to be declared invalid, unlawful and set aside.
The court action comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the immediate ban in alcohol trading more than two weeks ago, with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in SA spiking.
Dlamini-Zuma said during level 5 of the lockdown, when alcohol sales were banned, overall visits to the trauma units had dropped from 42,700 a week to around 15,000.
However, from June 1 when the alcohol ban was lifted, the number of trauma unit admissions spiked, amounting to around 50% of the cases.
"It was estimated that approximately 17,000 (50%) of the 34,200 overall number of admissions per week to secondary and tertiary public trauma units across the country are linked to liquor consumption," stated Dlamini-
Zuma in court papers.
She added: "If we do not respond by reintroducing a prohibition or other measures to reduce liquor sales and consumption, we can expect the rate of trauma cases to remain the same [as pre-lockdown levels]. In addition, there may be other more negative outcomes... because of a shortage of staff, beds and equipment for other conditions including Covid-19."
Dlamini-Zuma said research showed that "South Africa has one of the highest rates of liquor consumption and abuse in the world".
"This imposes a cost to the state," she said while indicating that though only about 31% of South Africans consumed liquor, their average consumption was more than double the average of other drinkers elsewhere in the world.
"On a monthly basis, 57% of drinkers consume more than five drinks on a single occasion and this often leads to more trauma cases at emergency centres across the country. Trauma patients presenting to hospitals and emergency centres and not requiring admissions contribute to overcrowding and therefore increase the risk of transmission of Covid-19 within emergency centres," she said.
She said the decision to ban the sale of alcohol considered evidence from the provincial health departments, submissions by the SA Medical Research Council, World Health Organisation reports and advice from the ministerial advice committee, among others.
She, however, said the decision would be regularly reviewed to limit the pressures on the economy and livelihoods during the lockdown.
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