SAAPA’s True Cost of Alcohol Campaign holds community dialogue in the Eastern Cape, exposing a decade of policy failure and community exclusion.
The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance (SAAPA), in partnership with the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders (NHTKL), convened a community dialogue on alcohol harm at the Mavuso Great Place in Alice, Eastern Cape, on Saturday, 16 May 2026. The event formed part of SAAPA’s True Cost of Alcohol Campaign, a national civil society movement calling for targeted alcohol tax reform and greater community participation in alcohol policy processes.
The dialogue, held under the theme “The Impact of Community Voices in Addressing Alcohol Harm”, drew community members, local leaders, civil society partners, liquor board representatives, and traditional leadership. What emerged was a direct account of how alcohol harm operates on the ground and how far removed that reality is from the policy discussions meant to address it.
Nkosi Langa Mavuso, deputy chairperson of the NHTKL and host of the gathering, set the tone. “Most of the social ills taking place in our communities are caused by alcohol. The tax on alcohol by the government should be increased to discourage people from drinking.”
His community makes the case plainly. Mavuso has a proliferation of liquor establishments, with few legal liquor licence holders. Do we know the number of the population? It has more than five operating shebeens. It is a pattern repeated across rural and peri-urban South Africa, in communities that bear the daily cost of alcohol harm but have been systematically excluded from the licensing processes and national policy forums where that harm could be addressed.
At NEDLAC, South Africa’s statutory body for policy engagement between government, labour, business, and community, the Liquor Amendment Bill has stalled for more than a decade. The alcohol industry has responded to this process by sending its CEOs as direct participants. Communities have had no equivalent presence. The result, as speakers at Mavuso made clear, is policy capture dressed up as consultation.
“Communities across South Africa have the legal right to object to liquor licence applications in their areas. Almost no one has told them so. Part of what this campaign does is close that information gap, and part of what we are pushing for is formal community and traditional leadership representation at NEDLAC so that the voices of those most affected by alcohol harm are part of the decisions that shape it,” said SAAPA South Africa representative Ms Nomcebo Dlamini, the director of the organisation’s alcohol taxation policy campaign.
Community members at the dialogue raised further concerns. Illegal shebeens operating without licences, police complicity in the illicit liquor trade, community members being paid in alcohol to sign licence support forms, and the absence of meaningful political accountability were all named. Legitimate liquor traders also spoke, drawing a clear line between compliant businesses and illegal operators and calling for enforcement of existing law rather than further burdens on those who comply.
The National Treasury is currently reviewing alcohol excise taxes and has called on South Africans to be part of the public process on the 4th of June, 2026, virtually via this link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/374527978942007?p=Z83sjOBk8I7lXj3xbd
Meeting ID: 374 527 978 942 007
Passcode: j3Q5Gp2z
The focus of the public consultation workshop scheduled for the 4th of June 2026 is based on Chapter 11 of the National Treasury Alcohol Tax Review document, which is on wine and beer tax brackets.
Community organisations or individuals who wish to present on the wine and beer tax brackets must send their request to mpho.legote@treasury.gov.za by the 25th of May, 2026.
SAAPA SA is calling on communities, civil society, and individuals across South Africa to engage in that process and add their voices to the campaign.
To find out more, participate in the tax review process, or access campaign resources, visit www.truecostofalcohol.africa.
ENDS
For media enquiries, interviews, and additional comments, contact SAAPA at kajal@saapa.africa
The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance (SAAPA) is a civil society organisation working across southern Africa to reduce alcohol harm through evidence-based policy advocacy, community mobilisation, and public education.