EFF calls on Ramaphosa to dismiss DA’s murderous proposal to open bottle stores

20 April 2020

The EFF calls on Ramaphosa to dismiss the DA's murderous proposal to resume the sale of alcohol during weekends. It is clear the DA is a quintessential mouthpiece of the alcohol industry which demands its profit interests to trump the fight against Covid-19.

All evidence points to the fact that the alcohol ban has had the greatest benefit for general social stability and reservation of medical resources. Medical scientists have shown that the majority of trauma cases in hospitals are alcohol-related, from road fatalities to inter-personal fights. They have also shown beyond a reasonable doubt that alcohol deteriorates the immune system.

To campaign for the sale of alcohol during the Covid-19 lockdown is therefore unscientific.

Most of all, it is a conspiracy for mass murder and social instability.

It can only be the DA's racist disregard of black communities that leads it to campaign on such a murderous agenda. It is public hospitals, which service mostly black people, that will be overwhelmed with alcohol-related trauma cases, and not their private health facilities which service white people.

Research has shown that it is during weekends that trauma cases increase exponentially in South Africa. Despite this scientific evidence, the DA wants alcohol outlets to sell during a health pandemic. This is because of their desire to see a complete collapse of black communities.

The DA's call is a confirmation that the real alcohol lobbyists are the huge alcohol corporations that benefit from the disruption of society.

Alcohol contributes to horror in our communities and this will be worse during the fight against Covid-19. To resume the sale of alcohol during this humanitarian crisis is to chain our hands and succumb to this deadly virus. The only outcome of such a proposal is chaos, which will result in Covid-19 claiming thousands of black lives.

Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 20 April 2020