As consumers of more than 5 billion litres of alcohol every year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks us at number four on a list of countries with the riskiest drinking patterns.
This classifies us as heavy drinkers who binge on a minimum of five beers or glasses of wine in a single sitting for men and more than three drinks for women.
The heaviest drinkers – prone to alcohol poisoning and the deterioration of vital organs – are the citizens of Kazakhstan, followed by Mexico and Russia.
The reality, though, is South Africa’s drinking problem is killing the nation and has an adverse effect on the economy.
The latest research from the Medical Research Council (MRC), which has been published in the SA Medical Journal, indicated South Africa lost about R300bn in 2009 as a result of alcohol abuse.
About R38bn of that was used to deal with the socials ills associated with the harmful use of alcohol.
These included deaths, illnesses, disabilities, unintentional injuries that included road traffic accidents, as well as crime.
“The effects of harmful use of alcohol in South Africa are very bad and are crippling the economy,” said Dr Richard Matzopoulos, the lead researcher behind the MRC’s recent report, who believed these figures are an underestimation and the problem was getting worse.
If nothing was done, he said, “it will continue to have a harmful effect and further entrench inequality and marginalisation of communities affected by alcohol”.
Matzopoulos attributed this to the alcohol industry prioritising profits derived from irresponsible drinking at the expense of the nation.
But Dr Osborn Mahanjana, chief executive of the Industry Association for Responsible Alcohol Use did not agree.
Although he acknowledged South Africa had a drinking problem, he said: “It’s not everybody who drinks alcohol who abuses it. Like any other thing, when you overindulge in alcohol it will be bad for you.
“That is why, as the industry, we continually promote responsible drinking and certainly do not put profit before people,” he added.
Mahanjana referred to the latest WHO statistics, which suggested that the responsible drinking message was indeed reaching some consumers.
The figures suggested 40% of South Africans drank alcohol but only 10% abused it.
South African women topped the list of heavy-drinking females in Africa. The WHO reported that 41.2% of local women were binge drinkers, followed by Burkina Faso (36.8%), Mozambique (32.8%), Nigeria (32.9%) and Zimbabwe (20.3%).
For the full story, including personal accounts in "At the bottom of every bottle", visit City Press.