For Sonwabo Lumko, the fight against alcohol abuse is not a policy debate, it is a daily struggle inside his own home, where he says he has had to raise his toddler largely on his own.
Standing among about 100 protesters in Cape Town on Wednesday, the Malmesbury father said he has effectively taken on the role of both parents in his household. While he stays home to care for their toddler, he claims his wife spends most of her free time drinking, and most of the household income goes with it.
“When I heard about the protest, I decided to add my voice. I have never drunk alcohol, but everyone at home does. They play loud music until 2am, and we have a toddler. When my wife is off from work, she spends her time drinking. She no longer has time for our two-year-old. I honestly feel like I am a single parent.”
Lumko was among demonstrators organised by the South African Alcohol Policy Alliance (SAAPA SA), who marched to hand over a memorandum to parliament’s standing committee on finance’s chief whip. Protesters carried placards reading: “Break the bottle, protect our families.”
He says alcohol is slowly destroying his household.
“I am self-employed, and my wife is permanently employed. But by mid-month, the cupboards are clean, and there is no money to buy food. Every cent is spent on alcohol. We barely make it to the end of the month.”
Drowning in alcohol
South Africa has long grappled with high levels of alcohol and substance abuse. In 2022, Harm Reduction International’s Global State of Harm Reduction Report identified the country as one of the world’s largest methamphetamine markets. Alcohol abuse remains one of the most pervasive contributors to violence, injury and social harm.
In South Africa, one in three women reports gender-based violence cases, and 60% of them said their partners used alcohol. Alcohol leads to road crashes and has claimed several lives. We see child neglect and child harm as a result of alcohol.
— Aadielah Maker Diedericks, secretary-general of SAAPA SA
In 2023, then social development minister Lindiwe Zulu warned that alcohol is among the most abused substances in the country, not only harming individual health by damaging vital organs and increasing susceptibility to life-threatening diseases, but also jeopardising the safety and well-being of others.
For Nkosinathi Caso, chairperson of the Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum subforum, the scars of alcohol abuse are deeply personal. He was just 15 when his alcoholic father deserted the family.
“My mother got sick, then my father decided to jump off the boat. At age 15, I had to do casual jobs. I did my matric at night school because I had to work three shifts during the day to take care of my family,” he said.
“Families are broken because of alcohol.”
Not an abstract policy
According to Aadielah Maker Diedericks, secretary-general of SAAPA SA, alcohol harm is not an abstract policy issue but a daily reality.
“In South Africa, one in three women reports gender-based violence cases, and 60% of them said their partners used alcohol. Alcohol leads to road crashes and has claimed several lives. We see child neglect and child harm as a result of alcohol,” she said.
SAAPA SA argues that hospitals are overwhelmed by alcohol-related injuries, families are torn apart by violence, and communities are battling the proliferation of alcohol outlets and the normalisation of harmful consumption.
“Alcohol harm undermines national development, economic productivity and social cohesion,” Diedericks said. “Yet communities continue to carry this burden while policy responses lag behind available evidence.”
South Africa imposes excise duties on alcohol based on volume or alcohol content. For the 2025/26 financial year, the government proposed increasing excise taxes by 6.75%, translating to R70.56 per litre of absolute alcohol for beer and R292.91 per litre of absolute alcohol for spirits, with lower rates for wine. Tax for wine, beer and spirits is currently set at 11%, 23% and 36% of retail prices, respectively.
SAAPA SA is urging parliament to strengthen alcohol excise taxes as a public health intervention, not merely a revenue tool. The organisation wants taxation aligned with global best practice and the World Health Organization’s SAFER initiative, which promotes evidence-based measures to reduce alcohol-related harm.
Among their demands:
- Stronger excise taxes to reduce harmful consumption and save lives.
- Recognition of alcohol taxation as a public health tool, capable of reducing violence, injuries and long-term healthcare costs.
- Policies prioritising communities over commercial interests.
- Investment in prevention and recovery, including youth empowerment programmes, treatment services and community-led solutions funded by alcohol tax revenue.
For Lumko, the policy debate is painfully personal.
“When alcohol takes over your home,” he said quietly, “it takes everything.”
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