In Alexandra, there may or may not be a street corner. Imagine that, on a recent grey and drizzly Thursday afternoon, a small hatchback was parked on this street corner. And consider, for a moment, that inside the car were two nervous men. Let’s suppose they had just finished their work for the day.
Back on the Alex street corner , however, our two protagonists lamented their lockdown without libation. Higher profit margins have always been a by-product of prohibition. In paying a heavily inflated price, our protagonists were only the latest customers in a long line. When canteens closed en masse after the sale of liquor to black people was first prohibited on the Witwatersrand in 1897, supply plummeted while demand stayed the same. A sure recipe for rocketing prices and profits.
editorial made clear that “he would be a bold man who would bet on the purity of the liquor ordinarily retailed in Johannesburg”. All of this is to say nothing of the social devastation alcohol wreaked among black workers on the Rand. But if contagious disease has been part of the Alex story from the beginning, alcohol has been an even more important character.
This will be an ongoing thing, and why not? Government currently deprives 21 million drinkers, and smokers with a product they use on a regular basis. Everyone knows the risk using these products, but these products will not promote or safeguard against covid19. Spiteful governme