2 out of 3 ‘drinkers’ do support the liquor ban

Two out of three South Africans (66%) who do enjoy a drink support the reinstatement of the ban on alcohol sales.

If people who do not drink at all are included, it rises to 79%.

This is the finding of a poll conducted by technology company M4Jam last week.

More than 1,000 people took part in the cellphone poll.

M4Jam CEO Georgie Midgley says this is in line with a previous poll which found that almost half of people felt the government should not have lifted the ban on alcohol sales in June.

“Although many people understand the reason for the reinstatement, there is enormous concern about job losses and the impact of people’s ability to feed their families.”

South Africans were caught completely off guard by the reinstatement, which Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday, July 12th. It came into force immediately when the regulations were published the same evening.

Among people who do drink, 89% say they have not replenished their liquor supply in advance, and 75% said they think it would have been nice if they had had a warning. 69% would have bought liquor in advance if they had the chance.

More than half of respondents (53%) will continue to drink, regardless of the sales ban.

However, only 28% reckon they will be able to get their hands on alcohol during the sales ban.

It seems more difficult to circumvent the ban on alcohol sales than the ban on cigarette sales – according to a poll released by the University of Cape Town earlier this week, 93% of smokers buy cigarettes on the black market.

Nevertheless, most people fear that jobs in the liquor industry will be lost while the black market will flourish, Midgley says.

63% of the people who took part in the survey reckon that alcohol prices have already started to rise due to the ban, with products that are between R50 and R250 more expensive than usual. The poll does not say which products are in question.

55% of respondents feel the country’s hospitals will be helped by the ban.