One of the most significant campaigns to be launched by Gauteng Premier David Makhura is that against drug abuse.
This issue does not get enough attention despite its adverse effects on so many in society. People tend to categorise those affected by substance and drug abuse as the dregs of society, so the debilitating effects are not high on the list of priorities.
In our heavily racialised society the perception is that poor and black people are worst affected by this scourge. Yet SA has been ranked as the heaviest drinking society on the African continent and among the top 10 most drunken societies in the world. This means there are a lot of functional alcoholics among us, across all communities, rich and poor. Many are living in denial or have found coping mechanisms to disguise the drunken stupors.
It is clear that given the horrific statistics of partner abuse and even murders highlighted during the 16 days of activism, our society is not yet serious enough about dealing with substance abuse. The carnage on our roads is another example of how substance abuse is ravaging our society. The majority of fatalities, especially at this time of the year, are linked to drunken driving. When you add the moral collapse of our society to this — it is all too easy for drunks to buy themselves out of being arrested for endangering other road users — you are sitting with a huge problem that will require more than just 16 days of activism or Makhura’s courageous campaign launched a year ago.
There is a shocking lack of education about substance abuse at our schools, which is where the seed is planted that alcohol abuse is not only okay but something to be boastful about. I am not excusing parents, where the next generation is often being raised by functional alcoholics, but it is at school that our children spend most of their lives, and by one estimate, up to 30% of teachers are themselves alcoholics.
This must be the first firm intervention the government must make: disciplining teachers who come to work drunk or who consort with kids to take drugs. The second most obvious intervention is the drunk-driving culture, which still has half-a-blind eye turned to it by all and sundry. The government must ban drinking on the roads completely, as the alcohol limit approach is not working.
A big test of how seriously the government is going to take alcohol abuse is coming up — it is going to have to square off against the private sector on the proposed law banning alcohol advertising. It is interesting that the departments of both social development and health are hell-bent on banning such advertising but have not made any move to deal with what amounts to daily advertising in the classroom by drunken teachers.
If we don’t do something about this and expect that merely banning advertising will stop drunken driving, we will be failing in our duty to the next generation.
It is clear that only a fraction of the people who are addicted to alcohol took up the habit by being lured to it by advertising. The real culprit is adult example; advertising really just serves the purpose of allowing people to choose the type of poison they want to administer to themselves.
The so-called sin taxes do not work and the fact that many of the legislators who are shown in Parliament listening to the annual budget speech are themselves well-known drunks does not fill one with confidence that the problem of alcoholism is being taken seriously.
• Tabane is author of Let’s Talk Frankly and anchor
of Power Perspective on Power FM
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