Buhle Samuels: I hope not having alcohol has made us better people

Most South Africans were overjoyed to learn that alcohol sales will be permitted under alert level 3 of the lockdown. However, actress Buhle Samuels has urged people to be responsible and hopes that the last few weeks have positively affected people who usually drink.

The actress took to Twitter to help her fellow South Africans celebrate what they felt was a "victory" after going through an alcohol drought. She said she hoped people used the time without alcohol to wean themselves off their dependency.

"On a serious note: I hope not having alcohol has made us better people, cut dependencies where they were, perhaps giving us a chance to deal with past issues. I hope we are more whole than we were before. Let’s be responsible and rational in our future drink-on," she said.

Buhle then engaged with her followers, some of whom were concerned that while alcohol may seem like a good thing, it had the power to mess up all the progress that a booze-free lockdown had achieved.

The actress admitted that it was "inevitable" that the alcohol ban would be lifted. She added that at some point, individual South Africans had to do what was best to protect their lives.

"The inevitable truth is that at some point, the government has to give us, the people, a chance to decide how responsible we are going to be - no matter how much they delay. Jokes aside, it really is in our hands," she wrote.