SOUTH AFRICANS FLOCK ESWATINI FOR BOOZE

NHLANGANO – Some local liquor outlets are recording their biggest sales ever due to an influx of South Africans cashing-in on the alcohol ban in that country.

Apparently, the ban on the sale of liquor in the neighbouring country has created a network of entrepreneurial elements, comprising South Africans who collude with locals to smuggle the alcohol into SA through informal crossings.

The alcoholic drinks are then allegedly sold in the locations or townships and from local homesteads situated closer to the borderline at massively inflated prices. The restriction on the sale of alcohol in the Republic of South Africa was introduced alongside other precautionary measures meant to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has already claimed the lives of 58 people, and with over 3 000 registered cases in that country.

While the ban on the sale of liquor has succeeded in transforming the behaviour or habits of some South Africans, reports from that country indicate that it has also created a few problems like burglaries targeting some of the closed liquor outlets, while at the same time creating a flourishing black market. Enterprising merchants are said to have massively stocked up on the eve of the ban, but the notoriously high rates of binge drinking, especially at the locations or townships, have resulted in the underground supplies drying up. This caused a potentially volatile situation for the Kingdom of Eswatini, where the dreaded virus might find a conduit through the porous borderlines or informal crossings where the alcohol is being smuggled.

Culprits

The alcohol is bought in bulk from selected local liquor shops. Information gathered was that the culprits usually hired vans from locals residing closer to the borderlines, who help them to travel to nearby towns where the alcohol is bought in large amounts. A security guard stationed at one of the liquor outlets around Big Bend, which is frequented by the border jumpers from South Africa, disclosed that the foreign nationals were buying a lot of cases of beer and many bottles of spirits per individual.

“Of late the place is frequented by many South Africans who are buying large amounts of alcohol. These people were buying from as many as 15 bottles of hard liquor. I understand that some were from Manyiseni, which is located on the foothills of the Lubombo Mountain, while others come from places in northern KwaZulu-Natal such as Ntuthukweni location,” explained the witness.

The massive purchasing of the liquor is said to have started a few days after the neighbouring country closed its taverns and bottle stores.  This resulted in a situation where stocks ran out for some bottle stores as locals had also resorted to panic buying, after reports that alcohol sales could come to a halt locally as well.  Following the tip-off about the illegal cross-border trade in alcohol, this publication interviewed a few residents from places located closer to the borderline such as Mshololo, who confirmed the underground activities.

A young man from Zombodze Emuva (where Mshololo is located) said he was aware of places close to the borderline, where liquor was sold illegally. He said of late the place was frequented by imbibers from the neighbouring Ntuthukweni location, which is situated on the South African side of the border.

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