Lifting restrictions on alcohol spikes South Africa’s crime rate-Minister
Two weeks after South Africa lifted its restrictions the country’s law enforcement authorities are regretting the decision to lift restrictions on alcohol sales.
The country’s Police Minister, Bheki Cele, has attributed the rising crime to the partial lifting of the ban on alcohol sales.
Currently, the sale of alcohol is only allowed from Monday to Thursday between 9 am and 5 pm.
Ever since the lockdown and its accompany alcohol sales were partially lifted, the crime waves jumped out of the roof.
“Until Monday, June 1, which is not an entirely dangerous day, for the first time since the lockdown, we got reports of 40 people killed. The next day there were 51 [murders] and there were 69 this past Sunday,” Mr Cele said.
Before then, the police were averaging between 20 and 30 murder cases a day.
“That has now just gone up, including attempting murder, including the abuse of women and violence against women,” he South Africa’s News 24 quoted him as saying.
With those worrying figures in mind, he said was optimistic that the National Coronavirus Command Council would look into the decision and “do the right thing”.
Africa’s second-largest economy struggles with alcohol-fueled violence.South Africa is among countries with high crime rates in the world.
The country lifted restrictions on the sale of alcohol on 1 June after coronavirus restrictions were eased to level three.
But Mr Cele insisted the ban must continue to shrink the wave of violent crime.
On Thursday he listed several crime incidents that involved drunk suspects, saying there was a need to reconsider the partial lifting of the ban.
According to him the introduction of the coronavirus lockdown and supporting measures had resulted in a significant drop in crime levels across the country.
South African newspaper, the Sowetan observed that the heightened visibility of police, reinforced by the deployment of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) and other variables such as the prohibition of the sale of liquor had also all contributed to the decline.
This is especially apparent when comparing the country’s crime statistics between 27 March – 20 April 2020 to the same period last year, the Minister said.
The below tables show how South Africa’s major contact and robbery crimes statistics over the course of the lockdown, compare to the same period from last year.
| Crime | 29 March – 20 April 2019 | 29 March – 20 April 2020 | Case difference | Percentage change |
| Murder | 1, 542 | 432 | -1, 110 | -72.0% |
| Rape | 2, 908 | 371 | -2, 537 | -87.2% |
| Attempted murder | 1, 300 | 443 | -857 | -65.9% |
| Assault | 11, 876 | 1, 758 | -10,118 | -85.2% |
| Robbery with aggression | 6, 654 | 2, 022 | -4, 632 | -69.6% |
Source: South Africa Police