Deputy Social Development Minister, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, will on Friday visit Khayamandi in Stellenbosch to engage men on their plans to end alcohol and substance abuse.
This visit follows the Festive Season Campaign launch in December 2018, when the Deputy Minister - in partnership with the Department of Police - visited community members in various taverns in the Khayamandi area.
During the interaction with the community, a concern was raised about the need for a dialogue session to engage men on various social and structural drivers of HIV and Aids and gender-based violence focusing on prevention, care and support under the department’s Men Championing Change Programme.
At the time, Deputy Minister Bogopane-Zulu also engaged patrons and owners on the need to be compliant with the norms and standards of the National Liquor Act.
The Festive Season Campaign, which runs until February 2019, seeks to educate the public, particularly people in institutions of higher learning, pregnant women and primary caregivers to children and persons with disabilities about the harmful effects of alcohol and drug abuse.
The campaign also encourages conversation with parents and adults about the active role they can play in fostering alcohol and drug-free communities.
According to a 2018 report titled: “The cost of harmful alcohol use in South Africa” cited in the South Africa Medical Journal, it is estimated that government spends R37. 9 billion per annum on alcohol-related crimes, violence and accidents.
“Given its location in the wine-farming areas of the Western Cape and the ‘dop system’, Stellenbosch is one of the areas with excessive alcohol consumption - fuelling domestic violence and high levels of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders,” the department said.
The visit will start with a men’s dialogue at Khayamandi Heritage in the morning. The Deputy Minister will then visit taverns in Khayamandi Settlement and surrounding areas. – SAnews.gov.za
