VOTE ‘ YES’ BUT DRINK? NO WAY
IF YOU are younger than 21 years old you might no longer be able to buy or drink alcohol – if the ANC has its way.
The liberation party wants to liberate youngsters from the evils of booze by raising the legal age and making it more expensive for them.
It also wants to introduce tough regulations on how liquor operators, shebeens, taverns and clubs operate.
The ruling party’s social transformation committee is proposing: an increase in alcohol prices; regulating the number of outlets that sell holy water”; and
“raising the legal age of purchasing booze beyond 18.
“In exploring legislative reforms serious considerations should be given to alcohol advertising restrictions and alcohol pricing,” the party says.
This is contained in the party’s policy documents for discussion in June.
The ANC believes these proposals will reduce the exposure of young people to the “devil’s brew”.
The committee has identified dop as a major contributor to social disorder.
“An associated danger of alcohol is an increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases,” it says.
The government has already proposed that the age limit for drinking alcohol be increased from 18 to 21 and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini has called for a ban on alcohol at state year-end functions.
Last year she argued that people can have fun without alcohol.
In 1996, then minister of health Nkosazana Dlamini-zuma banned the advertising of tobacco on radio, television and other public places.
Meanwhile, the gender paper states that the ANC wants the government to put in place laws to regulate prostitution. But the paper says the ANC must emerge with a position that will embrace the dignity of women.
It rejects the current legal framework on prostitution and sex work, which it says amounts to total criminalisation of the seller (the prostitute).