POLL | Drunk driving, a spike in trauma and murder cases - should government ban alcohol?

Some South Africans have called for the alcohol ban to be reinstated after a deadly accident in Jozini, in the north of KwaZulu-Natal, which left at least eight people dead and 32 injured on Wednesday. 

A truck driver lost control of the vehicle, hitting pedestrians and cars on Wednesday. He attributed the accident to brake failure but investigations found that he “may have been driving under the influence of alcohol,” according to TimesLIVE. 

Transport minister Fikile Mbalula called on road users to avoid excessive alcohol consumption to prevent fatal road accidents.

On Tuesday, TimesLIVE reported that the Western Cape government said its hospitals were under pressure due to an increase in trauma cases linked to alcohol consumption. These had increased since government lifted the ban on the sale of alcohol on June 1, when SA went to lockdown level 3. 

On the same day, police minister Bheki Cele said there was a spike in murder cases, also allegedly linked to the unbanning on alcohol. He was speaking from the Jabulani hostel in Soweto, where six men were shot and killed on Monday evening.

Cele said during the lockdown, police registered about 30 cases of murder nationally per day, but these have increased, up to 69 on Sunday last week. There was also an increase in attempted murder and gender-based violence cases, TimesLIVE reported.