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South Africa’s alcohol ban has given ‘massive boost’ to criminal gangs

South Africa’s alcohol ban has given ‘massive boost’ to criminal gangs

Prohibition of beer and spirit sales has cut rates of murder and violence but the resulting illicit trade will now be hard to stop

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/

Jason Burke in Johannesburg

31 May 2020

The lockdown has been tough for David Mkoswe, a mechanic who lives in Alexandra, a sprawling township on the north-eastern edges of Johannesburg. Since Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, restricted the country’s 56 million inhabitants to their homes in late March, Mkoswe only earns if he works, and any savings are quickly spent.

For the last three weeks, there has been no money to buy milk for his nine-month-old daughter. “My little girl has been crying all the time,” Mkoswe, 38, said yesterday.

But there has been another problem too. The strict lockdown imposed eight weeks ago included a prohibition on buying or transporting alcoholic drinks. “Within days, there was no more beer. Then there was no whisky,” said Mkoswe, who struggles with alcoholism.

The lockdown is now almost over. On Monday, South Africa will move to “level three” of five, allowing many more businesses and some public transport to function under strict conditions. Covid-19 has spread relatively slowly across Africa, where there are only 130,000 cases. But South Africa is the worst hit country, with more than 27,000 of these, and scientists predict a surge over the coming months.

Zweli Mkhize, the health minister, said last week that the drastic restrictions had been effective at halting a rapidly spreading outbreak, but acknowledged the very high costs in a country where more than 50% of people live in poverty. “We can’t hold the lockdown for ever . There has to be relief of hunger and social distress,” Mkhize told reporters.

Critics describe the prohibition on alcohol imposed by Ramaphosa on 27 March as puritanical and arbitrary. From tomorrow, alcohol sales will be allowed on four days a week. No alcohol can be bought on Fridays and over the weekend, and it must be consumed only at home, with bars remaining closed.

South Africa has some of the highest levels of violent crime in the world, and more than half of murder victims have elevated levels of alcohol in their blood, experts say. Half of all murders take place on a Friday or Saturday night.

“Murders have come down by 63% during the lockdown and that suggests that other violent crimes have gone down too,” said Gareth Newham, head of the governance, crime and justice division at the Institute for Security Studies, a thinktank in Pretoria.

Traffic accidents – another major cause of deaths in South Africa – have also reduced in number significantly.

Overall, mortality rates have dropped since the first cases of Covid were detected in the country at the beginning of March, while hospitals have seen only a third of the usual number of severe wounds and injuries.

Cigarette sales were also initially banned, on the basis that smoking weakens the respiratory system and that in poorer areas people share cigarettes, possibly increasing the risk of spreading the virus.

But the prohibitions created a booming illicit trade, providing huge opportunities for organised criminals. Police have described an increase in smuggling of contraband into South Africa from its neighbours and a spate of burglaries of stores stocking alcohol.

South Africa has long had a problem of criminal gangs illegally selling cigarettes. Networks which already sold narcotics have now added alcohol to the illegal goods they offer their customers.

“This has given a massive boost to organised crime. Demand has remained the same, but the supply side has simply shifted into the control of the illicit industry. It is going to be very difficult to roll back,” said Newham.

While criminals have thrived, South Africa’s thousands of bars and restaurants have sustained massive losses, threatening huge numbers of jobs in a country already suffering high unemployment and a flagging economy. “It’s really sad to be feeling the pain . it’s been very, very, very hard,” said Tobogo Phiri, who shut his popular venue in Soweto when the lockdown was imposed.

South African pubs and bars will remain closed until further notice, along with hotels, game lodges and restaurants, although the government has said it is committed to progressively lifting restrictions.

“It’s no bad thing that the pubs are shut,” Mkoswe said. “It’s much safer to drink at home. I don’t know what Monday will bring but I don’t think anyone is going to be having a party.”

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