ALCOHOL BAN GOVT’S WORST DECISION - PUBLIC

MBABANE – Is the ban on liquor sales government’s poorest decision yet?
This is the view of emaSwati on social media where most stated that at the height of the country’s partial lockdown, liquor stores had remained open and the situation was under control.

Again government was challenged to show the statistics it used to back up the assertion that alcohol was causing the rise in the number of COVID-19 positive cases, which currently stand at 706.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister, Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, announced that the manufacturing and distribution of alcohol would be stopped with effect from July 1, 2020 for a period not exceeding two months.
The social media users, particularly on Facebook, stated that the two month-period was too long and this would only promote the bootlegging of booze.      

               
A majority of the posts did not complain about the lack of access to alcohol, but how it would leave the economy in a worse off state, especially the tourism industry, including restaurants which also held liquor licences. It was argued that it was true that there had been a lot of recklessness around alcohol, but in truth, it was just people generally not observing precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“The people who are walking around without masks or disregard to social distancing and washing of hands in peri-urban areas do not all drink alcohol,” commented one Facebook user.

It was further argued that it had only been a little over a week since alcohol distribution was allowed, so it was not possible that the spike the country had witnessed could be related to alcohol at this point.

Jobs

“Banning the sale of alcohol for two months will not change anything except to cost people their jobs and increase the illegal trade of the commodity,” commented another user.
In his remarks on Tuesday when announcing the ban, the PM said government had earlier in the month started to ease the economy by opening several businesses under strict conditions to contain the spread of the disease.

“However, over the past two weeks we have seen a surge of positive cases in the country which suggests that we have to review some of these easing measures to avoid overwhelming our health system,” said the PM.  He added that with effect from July 1, 2020, they would stop the wholesale and distribution of liquor, seeing that the consumption of alcohol was among the leading causes of the spread of the virus.

The Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, also supported the PM by stating that in some of the positive cases, there was evidence that liquor had been involved and some of the patients even recognised each other at the Lubombo Referral Hospital from a previous drinking session.
However, the minister could not readily avail the figures to substantiate her statement.   

The Facebook users went as far as comparing the statistics of the numbers when alcohol was banned compared to the week of its reopening.
The statistics, when compared to those from the daily releases by the Ministry of Health, show that 185 cases were recorded when the distribution was not allowed while when the liquor sales were reopened, 153 cases were recorded over a period of eight days each. 

This shows a difference of 32 cases. Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo, when contacted yesterday, said the guidelines would stand.  

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