Nothing strikes harder than IRONY. Not even the strikers!

Premier Helen Zille was struck by the IRONY of SAB being a sponsor in the "War on Poverty"! Why is she struck by this? Has the War on Poverty superceded the War on Drugs? Has she all of a sudden realised that alcohol is a drug and that the Western Cape has a chronic drinking problem?

So what happened? How did South Africa double its alcohol consumption in the incredibly short time of 8 years? In the 1998 it was 10 litres of alcohol per person per annum, but by the 2006 National Drug Master Plan it had climbed to 20 litres!(p.8) The cost of alcohol to the country is beteen R10Billion and R20Billion per annum.(p.5/8) SAB's turnover from South Africa in 2008 was $US4,4Billion while employing 9200 people. Accepting lower figure means each SAB employee COST the country just over a million rand each in damages which the country bears rather than SAB. Whatever happened to product liability?

SAB happened. 200 000 shebeens happened. SAB accounts for 90% of beer sold in South Africa. Quite how SAB beer gets into the shebeens is just a mystery. There is apparently a bootlegging industry:

"One group who may feel marginalised by the normalisation of shebeens are the bootleggers - the independent retail distributors (IRDs), who supply the shebeens. Like the shebeen owners, the IRDs are illegal and in a new dispensation would no longer supply many of the resulting taverns. But necessity is the mother of invention and many IRDs will find alternative outlets to ply their trade. In practical terms, SAB could never supply all shebeens/taverns in the townships." (Financial Mail)

Who are these people selling such large quantities of alcohol to obviously illegal operations? There's no bona fides here.

Who is responsible for alcohol? Surprisingly it's the National Liquor Authority, which is part of the Department of Trade and industry.

If the Department of Trade and Industry knows there are 200 000 shebeens in the country what steps has the NLA taken to close these down? What steps has the NLA taken to find how the shebeens get the stock into their SAB sponsored fridges reserved for SAB products only? And are these not practices not uncompetitive in terms of the law?

Perhaps the National Liquor Authority has some answers for the premier. They have a highly informative FAQ, but it's not what you're thinking. No one is asking what about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome? What is the rate now? No one is asking about all the dead pedestrians 60% of whom were blind drunk? (NIMSS 2007) 57% of all violent deaths in South Africa had drunk victims. 50% of all drivers killed were intoxicated. 46% of victims of "other unintentional deaths" were drunk.

The answer might lie in first National Drug Master Plan of 1998 which put alcohol in the care of the Department of Trade and Industry.

The alcohol industry has a public face. Unlike alcohol the website is safe, smiling and non threatening. The website is of course propaganda through and through. For instance the obfuscation regarding whether alcohol causes violence:

"Violence clearly occurs independent of alcohol consumption, even in countries whose populations largely abstain from drinking. For example, both domestic and other violence are prevalent in countries where alcohol consumption is discouraged or forbidden."

I do wonder if the Premier likes her tea "met ys"?