The curtain had barely closed on 2025 when a video surfaced online showing young children being encouraged to drink alcohol. Shared widely, the video requires us to confront the entrenched and unhealthy relationship with alcohol that this country has struggled for decades to contain. That adults and sometimes even parents encourage, film, share or laugh as children consume alcohol, they are not only complicit in child abuse but they are normalising behaviour that fuels addiction, violence and poverty.
The consequences are already visible. Teenagers fleeing abusive homes and ending up on the streets. Communities living under the shadow of alcohol-fuelled violence.
Parents who perpetuate this cycle are not simply failing their children, they are dragging society and future generations down with them. At a national level, South Africans spent billions on alcohol over the festive period, with daily sales soaring to more than R1 billion in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve. Much of that consumption comes with little regard for safety, health or consequence, as evident from the numerous reports of drunken driving arrests during the many roadblock operations around the province.
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This reckless normalisation is reflected in the spate of violent incidents reported at drinking establishments throughout the festive season, including the brutal assault of a woman at a Pietermaritzburg tavern, captured on video and shared widely online, sparking public outrage. Such incidents are symptoms of a deeper cause. Alcohol, when normalised irresponsibly, fuels abuse, addiction, gender-based violence and social harm.
If 2026 is to bring any real change to South Africa’s dire GBV statistics and drunk-driving fatalities, the country must confront its relationship with alcohol honestly — culturally, socially, and legally. This requires a thorough review of current alcohol laws and regulations to align them with global best practice, including raising age restrictions on the purchase and consumption of alcohol, and tightening licensing and compliance monitoring. Alcohol producers should also be required to disclose the full health risks associated with their products, in a manner similar to the disclosure standards imposed on the tobacco industry.
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