Eastern Cape hospital statistics back up booze ban calls

While police minister Bheki Cele’s abrasive pronouncements on alcohol do not sit well with many South Africans, his views are supported by statistics from Eastern Cape hospitals which show violent and reckless behaviour has escalated since the liquor ban was lifted.

Both Cele and Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane are of the view that the ban should have remained in place, with the latter now lobbying the national government for reinstatement in the province.

On Thursday, Cele claimed that 34,000 hospital beds around the country “are now occupied because of alcohol-related cases”.

He said he wished he knew what he could “put in alcohol so that you can hate it”.

SA has not been alone in banning alcohol sales as part of its coronavirus response, but it is in a small minority.

India, Thailand, Greenland and Aisne in France also took the drastic measure.

The reason for the ban in each country was different.

In Thailand, the kingdom wanted to ensure that people did not have wild parties over the Songkran New Year, and took a decision to extend the ban, which has subsequently been lifted.

It was only in the Greenland capital of Nuuk that the ban was imposed. This was done to protect children from abuse, which is rife in the tiny nation.

Western Australia imposed restrictions on alcohol sales in March, but these were removed a month later because residents had displayed “good community behaviour”, according to the state government.

Chaotic scenes ensued in India when the ban was lifted, with tipplers clashing with police outside liquor stores as queues stretched for hundreds of metres.

SA’s motive was two-fold.

In the first instance, it wanted to ease the burden on health facilities so that Covid-19 cases could be prioritised, and secondly, the country’s staggering crime rate can be directly linked to irresponsible alcohol use.

As much as Cele’s fiery anti-booze rhetoric rankles SA drinkers, hospital trauma and violent crime statistics from the first weekend after the booze ban was lifted lend credence to his position.

Frere Hospital in East London recorded 67 cases, while medical staff at Butterworth Hospital dealt with 12 rape cases and 86 trauma cases.

In the OR Tambo district, there were 32 trauma cases and two rape victims treated at St Barnabus Hospital.

At Canzibe Hospital three assault and two stabbing victims were treated.

Zithulele Hospital near Mqanduli was another to suffer the fallout, treating six stabbing and eight assault victims.

St Elizabeth Mission Hospital in Lusikisiki handled 34 assault cases last weekend.

Between June 5 and 7, there were 41 assault, 15 stabbing, four gunshot and four rape victims treated at Mthatha General Hospital.

Reverend  Lulama Ntshingwa, Eastern Cape president of the SA Council of Churches, is concerned.

“The hospital casualty departments are inundated with cases of fatal wounds emanating from people who have taken too much alcohol.

“The rationale behind the opening of liquor sales does not benefit the poor and marginalised but will benefit the big business and liquor wholesalers.”

Ntshingwa said all sectors of society needed to take responsibility in the fight against the coronavirus.

The council in the province has partnered with the Eastern Cape health department on a provincial rollout plan to train church leaders on Covid-19 to provide spiritual and psychological support to the province.

The Eastern Cape Liquor Traders Association (ECLTA) has also approached the provincial government to work hand-in-hand in fighting alcohol abuse.

ECLTA spokesperson Tinumzi Lubelwana said: “We have a scheduled steering committee today [Friday] and we believe that from those engagements we will be able to come up with something concrete to address all issues raised head-on.”

But Lubelwana said should the premier’s call to ban the trade and distribution of alcohol until level-one lockdown be accepted, it would have a devastating effect on liquor traders.

“That will mean zero income for the foreseeable future, adding to that the past nine weeks of no trading.”

Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the rise in trauma cases was “just the beginning”.

“Our health budget is eaten by trauma cases every year. Most of these cases require ICU.

“Economically, the country has not been doing well under the lockdown, but South Africans have never been healthier.

“In the first two weeks of level-five lockdown, crime dropped dramatically. There weren’t even murder cases, but now it’s starting again,” Kupelo said.