LEGISLATION
Liquor rules reflect a state drunk on power, greed and arrogance
Regulations already exist to tackle issues related to alcohol abuse but government enjoys having the final say
The regulation of the sale of liquor has long been a feature of government policy pretty much everywhere. In Anglo-Saxon countries, it generally comes with more than a whiff of self-righteous fervour as those who draft the laws feed on the indignation of those who deal with the social consequences of drunken behaviour. The revenue value of sin taxes makes it clear there is no moral basis for this impost: to the extent that the state taxes liquor, it enjoys the wages of sin. In SA, the question of liquor regulation is fraught with historical baggage. In a paper entitled Randlords and Rotgut, published in the 1970s, Charles van Onselen showed how the Witwatersrand mine owners used the supply of liquor to drive rural blacks into the urban cash economy. This strategy came to an end when it ceased to be productive: progressively, and over several decades, black prohibition became the law of the land. However, it didn’t take the government long to recognise this was a revenue opportunity....
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