Bill banning alcohol ads to cabinet

Cape Town - A draft bill banning alcohol advertising will be submitted to cabinet soon, a cabinet committee says.

The inter-ministerial committee to combat alcohol and substance abuse had agreed to submit the draft Control of Marketing of Alcohol Beverages Bill during the next cabinet cycle.

"The committee, chaired by Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini and comprising 11 other ministries, agreed that the bill, in its current form, was ready for consideration by the cabinet with the view to gazette it for public comment," a statement from the committee said.

The committee cited numerous inputs from government departments and civil society as motivation for approving the bill.

"Research has shown that, the prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse among adults in South Africa [is] expanding rapidly to the destruction of families as well as the community and society.

"The government cannot afford to ignore it or be quiet about it."

The committee said moves by the industry to curb the harm caused by drinking alcohol, such as promoting responsible drinking, were not yielding results.

Alcohol abuse

"The committee agreed that this approach was at odds with most of the evidence gathered by various researches (sic) across the globe and that there was a need for various approaches, including the banning of alcohol advertising to deal with the devastating socio-economic impact of this scourge."

"The department of health said the tangible costs of alcohol in South Africa have been estimated to be close to R38bn while intangible costs could reach R240bn (sic)."

Alcohol was also the third leading risk factor for death and disability in South Africa.

According to the transport department more than half of the country's road deaths occurred as a result of alcohol abuse.

"Around 70% of domestic violence has been associated with alcohol; arrested people indicated that they were under the influence of alcohol for 25% of weapons-related offences, 22% of rapes, 17% of murders, 14% of assault cases and 10% of robberies."