SA’s binge drinking culture can be traced back to apartheid - Rethink Your Drink project lead

CapeTalk’s Clarence Ford speaks with Zimasa Mpemnyama, Project Lead at Rethink Your Drink at the DG Murray Trust (DGMT).

Listen below:

Drinking has become so normalised in our culture that we sometimes forget how harmful it is.

South Africa is one of the heaviest drinking countries in the world, according to the Africa Centre for Inclusive Health Management (ACIHM).

Reports suggest that 30% of teenage boys and 20% of teenage girls are binge drinkers, despite the risks associated with it.

Binge drinking is defined by taking five or more units of alcohol in one sitting.

“South Africa has a binge drinking problem.”

- Zimasa Mpemnyama, Project Lead - Rethink Your Drink 

This not only has terrible health risks, it is also associated with significant social and criminal issues.

According to an article by Mpemnyama in the Mail & Guardian, alcohol is a factor in 60% of femicides, 50% of homicides, and two-thirds of all rapes in our country.

The ACIHM and DGMT have partnered to tackle heavy drinking in South Africa.

Mpemnyama says our dangerous drinking culture can be traced back to colonialism and apartheid, where alcohol was used as a control mechanism by the government.

“People were paid with alcohol... that introduces a long-term cultural dependence on alcohol. If you are paid with alcohol, it makes it a norm in society, and we are seeing the fruits of that.”

- Zimasa Mpemnyama, Project Lead - Rethink Your Drink 

RELATED: Dad’s drinking also linked to Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, study finds

Mpemnyama adds that beer halls and similar spaces were seen as the only places where people could gather and enjoy themselves during the apartheid era, which contributed to the generational association of alcohol with fun.

She says we must find new ways to socialise that do not involve alcohol in order to change this culture.

Scroll up to the audio player for more.