The beer industry is open to the government amending liquor laws and regulations.The national government and several provincial governments are considering tighter laws and regulations on liquor.
BASA, which represents both craft brewers as well as large companies like South African Breweries and Heineken SA, says as long as any new measures are backed up by"empirical" research, it is open to seeing them implemented. The cost of alcohol abuse to the country is huge. It amounted to about R37.9 billion, or 1,6% of the 2009 GDP, according to a 2014 study by researchers at the University of Cape Town, South African Medical Research Council , and the University of the Witwatersrand.
She used the example of introducing a higher drinking age for alcohol, which is currently 18 years of age. She said she was recently on a walkabout with deputy social development minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, where they came across a 10-year-old child drinking alcohol. The Economic Impact of the Beer Sector in SA study found that beer alone contributed R43 billion in taxes and contributed R71 billion to the economy a year.
Support alternative income generation for home-based unlicensed outlets that will never meet licensing requirementsReduce BAC levels for drivers to 0.