According to the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance, new legislation should be sorted out –that will hopefully ban the practice outright- but until then there should be a moratorium on licenses that allow petrol stations to sell alcohol.
BP started selling wine from a single forecourt store in Radiokop, Johannesburg, in June using the slogan “wine on the go”. BP hopes to roll the offer out to more stores, initially in Gauteng and the Western Cape, in its network of more than 500 retail locations. BP is the first petroleum company to receive such a license.
According to the alliance of organizations concerned about alcohol harm, this is a terrible idea for several reasons.
Charles Parry, the director of a SA Medical Research council research unit on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, said that alcohol abuse is a significant problem in South Africa and that drunk driving is already prevalent. He also said that making booze more readily available is a bad idea in and of itself and selling it from petrol stations sends the wrong message.
The alliance has called for stricter measures around alcohol sales to continue even after the Covid-19 pandemic subsides. The alliance hopes that such stricter measures will be contained in the Liquor Amendment Bill which proposed an outright ban licenses for liquor outlets neat public transport facilities or for “premises attached to petrol service stations”.
The alliance argues that until the law has moved through the parliamentary process, a moratorium on petrol-station licenses is appropriate.
Sources: Business Insider
Follow FiND iT on Facebook here.
ALSO READ: South Africa’s alcohol ban could be extended along with lockdown level 4
