Liquor Bill Won’t Change People’s Drinking Habits

Five years has passed and finally the Liquor Products Amendment Bill has been signed into law.

The Bill, which is now an Act, was tabled in Parliament in July 2016.

The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance director Maurice Smithers on Tuesday said the Bill was more product-orientated.

“This is not be the Holy Grail that we are looking for. This is a Bill that is drafted by the Department of Agriculture; it is intended just to ensure that what we drink in the country has got the right ingredients in it. That is what it says it is,” he said.

He said while this was important, it was not going to actually change people’s drinking habits.

“It does open the opportunity to deal with certain big challenges; there are clauses there for example about the importance of alcohol that you have to have a permit to input anything that has more than 0.5% alcohol,” Smithers added.