By DESMOND PITOYI
I’m flabbergasted, livid, utterly astonished, shaking with disbelief, and at a loss for words. My anger is palpable, to say the least.
Thank goodness, I have a chiskop. Otherwise, I would be tearing my hair out as I draft this piece.
The other day, I read a worrying story about Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, contemplating some nonsensical plan to “improve” kasi taverns and to turn them into “taverns of the year” and “safety zones”.
Lesufi said on X (formerly Twitter): “Today, we received a full briefing to launch taverns of the future in our communities. The tavern of the future will blow your mind! Thanks to the new Heineken Vision. Exciting times indeed.”
#GrowingGautengTogether
“Investment is above our individual preferences. We must bring investments in our province to create jobs and opportunities for all.”
He announced this after his office received a briefing from the beer-making company, Heineken South Africa, outlining this startling plan “to rebrand taverns”. What a load of bull.
Is Lesufi out of his mind? Is he smoking his socks or is he inebriated? I think, the latter aptly describes his state of mind when he made this announcement. How, on earth, do you allow such? Lesufi’s pipe dream really boggles the mind.
This is a U-turn by someone who, in 2019, vigorously declared: “The sooner we realise that this drug called alcohol is destroying and ravaging our nation, the better. I fail to understand why people worship this drug.
“The problems of alcohol are real. This problem of alcohol needs brave soldiers, not the faint-hearted. An alcohol-free South Africa is possible, let’s build it now.”
In 2020, Lesufi once again pontificated: “I differ, strongly on the use and sale of alcohol. I’ve stated this view before. This drug is costly and ruthless and should be defeated. It has no value in building a healthy society.”
He also started a campaign called #AlcoholFreeSA, which was aimed at decreasing the abuse of alcohol in our communities. Now that Heineken is poised to take over the township economy, Lesufi is singing politics of the stomach.
According to Creamer Media’s Engineering News, the Heineken South Africa initiative involves the transformation, including building, construction, business and diversification support, of neglected tavern facilities, “as well as monetary investment in developing the taverns’ offerings”.
I need to be persuaded otherwise on this one. This highly acclaimed initiative will not, in any way, help tavern owners. Instead, it bears all the hallmarks of turning them into vagrants and deny them control over the kasi economy.
Have we not learned from the spaza shops that illegal foreigners have since taken over? I fear the worst.
I fully agree with Afro-pop singer, Thandiswa Mazwai, that Lesufi is “counter-revolutionary”.
Even some of his colleagues in the government are critical of this initiative.
Department of international relations and co-operation head of public diplomacy, Clayson Monyela, joined the conversation.
“My dad was murdered at a tavern in Kagiso. He was 33. Taverns traumatise me.
“My heart breaks when I see companies like Heineken getting endorsements from my government to expand further into our communities. The few ‘jobs’ they’re promising is not worth the thousands of lives these people are going to destroy. This is good for Heineken, not for us. I’m so pissed!” said Monyela.
Has the premier been living under the rock? He seems oblivious to what the abuse of booze has done to black life.
The National Liquor Traders Council welcomed the initiative. But that is a story for another day.
Everywhere you turn ekasi, you are met with big billboards, walls, TV and other forms of media advertisements promoting this killer drug, on the one hand. On the other, taverns and shebeens are all over the show. Some are found in close proximity to schools and crèches. Now, Lesufi sees their promotion as the best thing under the sun.
Research is littered with data that puts alcohol abuse as the number one cause of some of the existing societal problems facing many families today.
Communities report that alcohol-related trauma, exceptionally high rates of TB, child and adult malnutrition, and Foetal Alcohol Syndrome are some of the major concerns bedeviling our communities.
In addition, social problems associated with alcohol, including drunk driving, child abuse, violence against women, and family disruption are obstacles to the government’s health and social services.
It is said that alcohol is a gateway to drug abuse. Bored young people end up passing the time by using booze, nyaope, drugs and other toxic and deadly substances.
“The tavern of the future is only here to cement the destruction of black people,” said Thandiswa.
Mr Lesufi should be reminded about when and how this booze problem all started.
Old folks were rudely introduced to this evil through the dop system (a payment method in which agricultural workers were paid for their hard labour in alcohol instead of money).
The ramification of the dop system is the perpetuation of poverty in mainly Coloured farm worker communities. It has created generations of disadvantaged youths and abused women due to alcohol dependency.
Now, Lesufi and his Heineken cohorts want to make us believe that taverns can be turned into safety zones. Pull the other one, Mr Premier.
Have you forgotten what happened at Enyobeni in the Eastern Cape, Orlando East’s Nomzamo informal settlement, Katlehong and Pietermaritzburg? To date, some of the perpetrators of these evil acts are still to be apprehended and the families who lost loved ones want closure. What is in it for you, Mr Lesufi?
We should not only focus on taverns in a particular context with a history of violence. Amakasi are violent by design. Taverns and shebeens are a reflection of the colonial-apartheid racialised spatial make-up. Are there taverns and shebeens in white residential areas?
Today, there are many non-profit organisations whose programmes are aimed at helping to cushion the impact and dependency of alcohol across Mzansi. Why not finance them in their various attempts to beat the menace of alcohol abuse?
Why not use the money earmarked for this “booze programme” for social upliftment projects?
Townships are in desperate need of libraries, soccer fields, art centres, schools need science labs, the list is endless. As we speak, the Joburg Library has since shut down due to financial constraints.
Stop throwing money into wasteful projects. Our children’s future is at stake. Let us avoid raising the so-called lost generation.
Come to think of it, such madness can only happen in South Africa where immorality is promoted and put on a pedestal, regardless of the consequences.
Mr Lesufi, no bright future has ever been built by promoting alcohol. It is clear as daylight that your aim is to keep the investors happy, even if it means increasing access to a drug that is costly, and ruthless to those you claim to represent. Have you no shame?
How do you sleep at night knowing that you and your organisation are responsible for the killing and destruction of your kin through this intoxicating beverage?
In the new year, I shall be following developments in this so-called Heineken tavern safety zone pious claptrap and the flip-flopping Lesufi like a hawk.
Watch the space.
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