Mbombela - The number of liquor licences awarded in Mpumalanga is raising concern among the police and organisations that work with alcohol addiction.
The Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism approved 189 new licences between April and June this year, adding to 5 893 valid licences already in existence.
"We are also considering the renewal of 293 licences that had elapsed due to non-payment," former MEC Jabu Mahlangu announced during his quarterly media briefing in October.
Professor Charles Parry, director of the Medical Research Council's drug and alcohol research unit, said it was known that Mpumalanga was one of the provinces where it was easiest to get a liquor licence.
"It is much harder in the Eastern and Western Cape, for example. I am sure authorities in Mpumalanga will argue that awarding liquor licences is part of development in the province, but the long-term results are always disastrous."
The department confirmed that at least 70 of the 189 new licences were for taverns in the deep-rural Nkomazi area, where police said alcohol-related crimes such as stabbings, assaults and rapes were steadily increasing.
"If there are 100 taverns with legal licences, you can bet there are another 50 that are operating illegally," said a policeman who did not want to be named.
Earlier this year, the then MEC for the Department of Safety, Security and Community Liaison, Sibongile Manana, told journalists that alcohol abuse in the province was "out of control."
"There are 14 villages in the Dr JS Moroka local municipality in Siyabuswa, but there are more than 115 liquor outlets operating. This cannot be a normal situation. There is a need for the Liquor Board to consider reviewing some of the conditions for operating licences," she said.
Parry said communities should also be consulted before liquor licences were awarded to ensure their opinions were taken into consideration.
"Authorities should at least get their views because at the end of the day that particular community is the one that suffers from alcohol-related crimes," he said.
Provincial spokesperson Captain Leonard Hlathi said most crimes were committed during weekends, when people were drunk, and that a high percentage of crimes took place near taverns and other liquor outlets.
"We've realised that alcohol abuse has contributed to the escalating levels of social contact crimes. Many men found guilty of these crimes are found to have used alcohol as a premeditative way to gain courage to commit the crime," he said.
According to Advocate Sandile Nkosi from the National Liquor Regulatory Forum, liquor trading contributed R10 billion a year to the country's economy, but the government spent at least R50 billion a year to deal with problems emanating from alcohol abuse.
"The money is used by, among others, the Road Accident Fund to pay third-party claims and create awareness campaigns to spread road safety messages. Other costs borne by the state include social grants payments to the surviving children who lost parents in road accidents due to drunk drivers," said Nkosi.
He added that South Africa was one of the countries with the highest incidence of babies born with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, which is caused by mothers who abuse alcohol during pregnancy.
Mohau Ramatseba, spokesperson for the Department of Economic Development, said the department had no plans to place a cap on the number of licences awarded.
