‘Another Enyobeni waiting to happen’ as schools close and taverns open

The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance (Saapa) has raised alarms about a repeat of the Enyobeni tragedy as schools close this week and learners go to #pensdown parties and drink alcohol. At a seminar held at the District 6 Museum in Cape Town on Wednesday, Saapa’s secretary general, Aadielah Maker-Diedericks called on the youth to fight alcohol harm. “Alcohol is far too available for young people in our communities. If you look at a community like Khayelitsha, there are more licensed outlets in Khayelitsha than licenced ones.” According to her, young people have easy access to alcohol in the country mainly due to the proliferation of unlicensed taverns, the cheap prices, lax regulation by the liquor authority, and the targeting of young people by liquor companies through advertising.

The Enyobeni tragedy saw the death of 21 young people. 17 of the 21 who died were under the age of 18 at the time of their death.

Lack of regulation by liquor authority and SAPS

The main problem with the liquor authority, according to Maker-Diedericks is that the different provincial offices work in isolation from each other. “We have 9 different liquor authorities around the country and they do things differently from each other. They interpret the law differently. You might have a liquor authority that is efficient in one province but a different one in another province,” she said.

Odwa Nakani from Makhaza Community Police Forum in Khayelitsha said that they have called for a moratorium on the issuing of liquor licences by the authority as it is battling to even ensure that the ones that are licenced comply. “We have over a thousand taverns and alcohol outlets in Khayelitsha but only 10% of them have licences. They are struggling to ensure that even those that have licences comply and they cite that they do not have capacity.” Even when the police enforce the law and make arrests and confiscate liquor, the unlicensed are out the following day and are trading again. That is why we need the police to be accountable to the residents,” Nakani said.

The Enyobeni inquest found that the Eastern Cape Liquor Board issued the tavern with a licence without an approved building plan. Photo from ECLB Facebook page.

Tamara Sam, the Khayelitsha Health Forum general secretary, said that she was recently made aware of the role of the ward councillor and residents in the liquor licence process. “It’s only been at the recent Saapa meeting in Khayelitsha where I learnt that as community members we have a right to oppose a liquor licence. I also didn’t know that the ward councillor has a role to play. I think they have failed the community by not informing them of their role. I have not heard of community members being consulted for a liqour licence. Our ward councillors only do proof of addresses for us and reporting of faulty drains in our community,” Sam said.

Saapa said that the police are also failing to ensure that licensed liquor outlets comply. “There was no check-up at Enyobeni and that is why the tragedy happened,” said Maker-Diedericks.

Targeting of young people through advertising

“We do not have a statutory alcohol regulatory board in this country and that is part of the problem. The one that we have is funded by the alcohol industry. So, technically they are not really there to look at the kind of advertising that would not be harmful and promote alcohol,” said Maker-Diedericks.

The alcohol industry, according to Maker-Diedericks is targeting Sub-Saharan Africa where there is limited legislation and many young people. “Statistics show that by 2056, 60% of young people will be living in sub-Saharan Africa. So the alcohol industry has got a specific agenda and that is to capture young people so that they can have drinkers into the future,” she said.

Empty burial coffins during a memorial service for the 21 teenagers who died in an East London tavern in June 2022. Archive photo by Mandla Mnyakama

Kashifa Ancer, the campaign manager for Rethink Your Drink Campaign of the DG Murray Trust, said even though the labeling of liquor bottles and cans has to include health warnings, the manufacturers choose vague messages. She explained that while alcohol products are required to carry rotating warning labels – such as those about pregnancy risks, cancer, and impaired driving – most consumers only see generic messages like “drink responsibly” or “not for sale to under-18s”. A proposed amendment to strengthen these warnings was repealed, and she called for its revival to ensure that alcohol labels clearly communicate the health risks associated with its consumption.