I grew up on the corner of Sekhwiri Street in Zone 8 Meadowlands, Soweto. Livhuwani Primary School, a Venda medium school, is situated on that street, in a part of zone 8 known as “ko maVendeng” (the other part is known as “ko Basothong” – names that are remnants of the apartheid era where even townships in industrial Gauteng were segregated along ethnic lines).
Right next door was a tavern called “ko Skhudeni”, which sold ntakunyisa, a highly potent version of traditionally brewed beer. Ntakunyisa is a Tsonga word that translates to “I will f**k you up” – and that’s literally what that alcohol did to the scores of men and women who consumed it.
About 100m north of our home, on Letsogo Street, there was another tavern, “ko Mokosi”. This one sold beers and brandy, and was especially popular because in the same dwelling, there was also a spaza shop where residents purchased bread, milk and other goods.
About 100m south of our home, in the opposite direction, on Rantwetwe Street, was another tavern, “ko Sheila”. It was owned by the late matriarch of the Williams family, ous Sheila. She sold beers and across from her, a street vendor sold braaied chicken feet, maotwana. This might have been the tavern’s selling point. Right next door to “ko Sheila” was another tavern, “ko Mulando”. It too sold ntakunyisa.
These were not the only taverns in our section of zone 8, they’re the ones that were within a 100m radius of my home – roughly a one minute walk. The interesting thing about these taverns is that despite their close proximity to one another, they were all incredibly profitable.
Each of them had their loyal client base. In that sense, there was no real competition among them. They all co-existed, right across from a primary school, selling alcohol to men and women who would often later be found falling over themselves on the streets or engaged in violent altercations with their spouses and members of the community in general.
MALAIKA MAHLATSI | Taverns of the future of no benefit to townships
Alcohol excess comes at a high cost to SA
Image: Thulani Mbele
A few days ago, Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi proudly shared a photo of himself and the managing director of Heineken, Jordi Borrut, standing outside a Heineken-sponsored tavern in Sedibeng.
The photo was accompanied by a caption praising Heineken for launching “taverns of the future” in communities. Numerous X (formerly Twitter) users came after Lesufi, accusing him of hypocrisy given his stance on an alcohol-free SA.
Others accused him of promoting alcohol despite its known negative effects on consumers, communities and the economy. Some users also argued that Heineken would displace smaller local taverns in the same way that major food retailers such as Shoprite and Pick n Pay have displaced spaza shops.
But Lesufi dismissed these concerns, imploring people to “wait until we launch” the “Taverns of the Future” initiative. It was an incredible Damascene conversion – a huge proponent of the banning of alcohol being at the forefront of defending the establishment of taverns in townships.
From ‘alcohol free SA’ to ‘taverns of the future’: Lesufi gets flak for Heineken project endorsement
Lesufi wants us to believe that Heineken’s “Taverns of the Future” initiative is crucial to the economic development of the province. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I grew up on the corner of Sekhwiri Street in Zone 8 Meadowlands, Soweto. Livhuwani Primary School, a Venda medium school, is situated on that street, in a part of zone 8 known as “ko maVendeng” (the other part is known as “ko Basothong” – names that are remnants of the apartheid era where even townships in industrial Gauteng were segregated along ethnic lines).
Right next door was a tavern called “ko Skhudeni”, which sold ntakunyisa, a highly potent version of traditionally brewed beer. Ntakunyisa is a Tsonga word that translates to “I will f**k you up” – and that’s literally what that alcohol did to the scores of men and women who consumed it.
About 100m north of our home, on Letsogo Street, there was another tavern, “ko Mokosi”. This one sold beers and brandy, and was especially popular because in the same dwelling, there was also a spaza shop where residents purchased bread, milk and other goods.
About 100m south of our home, in the opposite direction, on Rantwetwe Street, was another tavern, “ko Sheila”. It was owned by the late matriarch of the Williams family, ous Sheila. She sold beers and across from her, a street vendor sold braaied chicken feet, maotwana. This might have been the tavern’s selling point. Right next door to “ko Sheila” was another tavern, “ko Mulando”. It too sold ntakunyisa.
These were not the only taverns in our section of zone 8, they’re the ones that were within a 100m radius of my home – roughly a one minute walk. The interesting thing about these taverns is that despite their close proximity to one another, they were all incredibly profitable.
Each of them had their loyal client base. In that sense, there was no real competition among them. They all co-existed, right across from a primary school, selling alcohol to men and women who would often later be found falling over themselves on the streets or engaged in violent altercations with their spouses and members of the community in general.
‘We are trying to enforce regulations, not endorsing the alcohol industry’
A lot of violence in our township was directly related to alcohol consumption. This argument can be extended to the rest of the country. In fact, the correlation was made evident during the Covid-19 pandemic when the banning of alcohol sales resulted in less admissions of victims of violence and vehicular accidents in hospital emergency rooms.
The alcohol industry contributes about R70bn to SA’s GDP. While this might seem like a significant amount, the harmful effects of heavy drinking cost the country much more in both direct and indirect costs. Research by scholars such as Matzopoulus et al, illustrates a R277bn yearly cost through the combined impact of health and welfare expenses and indirect costs, such as productivity losses from absenteeism.
Adjusted for inflation, this equates to an annual cost of R433bn to the SA economy in 2023. What this means is that while the alcohol industry contributes 3%-4% to GDP, the loss to GDP as a result of alcohol use is 10%–12%. The idea that alcohol is a great investment in our communities is therefore a fallacy and an election gimmick by Lesufi to present his government as bringing development to townships when in reality, it is strangling them to death.
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