Community Safety
(a) What plans have been undertaken by his Department to help curb irresponsible drinking and the abuse of alcohol and (b) what progress has been made with amendments to legislation in this regard?
2 (a) Alcohol has been found to be instrumental in more than 50% of all homicide cases. The availability and access to liquor is key in this regard. Studies and research have demonstrated that the ban on alcohol sales for a period correlated with a significant reduction of trauma and homicide cases. There is adequate proof that once liquor became freely available, trauma and instances of homicide returned to pre-lockdown levels. To address this, we are implementing smart intentions, as opposed to a blanket ban on the sale of alcohol which damages the economy. These smart interventions include amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Act, 2008.
Through increased funding support provided by the Department of Community Safety, the Western Cape Liquor Authority (WCLA) has increased its capacity for compliance and enforcement. In total 19 additional junior liquor inspectors were appointed on contract. The WCLA also reprioritised funding for 5 additional inspectors. This has enabled the WCLA to commit to inspecting all licensed outlets on a scheduled basis. Also, the WCLA is participating in all interventions at a localised level in the identified priority Area Based Teams (ABT’s).
An Alcohol Harms Reduction (AHR) task team, led by the Department of Community Safety, was additionally established and proceeded to focus its attention on the implementation of key proposals of the AHR White Paper.
(b) The amendments are being approached in two phases. The first phase deals primarily with those amendments aimed at improving and enhancing the efficiency of the WCLA. These proposed amendments will be incorporated in the first Amendment Bill. Previously, the Provincial Central Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) Steering Committee agreed that a full RIA process was not required. These are referred to as “quick wins”. Cabinet supported the resolution and granted in-principle approval for the amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Amendment Bill to be drafted. The drafting of the proposed amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Amendment Bill, 2021, is currently at an advanced stage.
The second phase is aimed at those amendments that remain urgent and pressing but require broader engagement with other stakeholders and which would delay some of the urgent and “quick win” amendments to the Act. The proposed amendments that require further research, public participation, etc. necessitate a full RIA process. These are dealt with in a parallel process towards the RIA. This process is aimed at taking forward public health based AHR strategies and interventions as articulated in the AHR White Paper. Extensive research is currently being done by the AHR task team in this regard.
