Phumzile van Damme takes on 'nanny' Mbuyiseni Ndlozi over booze criticism

DA MP Phumzile van Damme has lambasted EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi over his criticism about the sale of liquor under lockdown.

On Monday, Ndlozi criticised people lining up to buy alcohol across the country after the reopening of licensed liquor stores under lockdown level 3. The sale of liquor is now permitted after a two-month ban put in place when the country went into lockdown at the end of March.

“They are not at work on a Monday or going to work. They are outside liquor shops to buy alcohol. They lined up long before the shops opened. What kind of society is this?” said Ndlozi.

Responding to Ndlozi's criticism, Van Damme said he should not impose his morality on citizens who chose to queue for alcohol.

“If they want to queue for alcohol, it’s none of anyone’s business, least of all us politicians, if they are taking the requisite safety measures and doing no harm. Don’t impose your morality."

“If you don’t drink, don’t drink. Don’t seek to impose that on everyone else because that is how you choose to live your life,” she said. “Let people live. Their lives. Their bodies. If they’re doing no harm to anyone else, ungenaphi (what does that have to do with you)? Mind your own body and don’t seek to nanny adults.”

When it was suggested the criticism by Ndlozi was “one of many outbursts”, Van Damme said: “I don’t think there is very much in the way of democracy there by the EFF.”