South Africa is a nation of heavy drinkers. In fact, data shows that the country’s drinkers consumed, on average, about 27 litres of pure alcohol each in 2019. That works out to roughly five glasses of wine, five cans of beer or five shots of spirits every day.
Rethink Your Drink, DGMT’s project for reducing alcohol harms, works specifically to address excessive drinking to prevent the social ills and poor health outcomes that stem from it. One of the key strategies is to take legal action against an actor believed to be violating people’s rights — whether it’s the industry or the government. This is called strategic litigation, because cases for this type of legal action are chosen very carefully to ensure that the outcome will bring about change that will have a broader impact on society and not just on the immediate parties involved in the case.
This learning brief looks at the ins and outs of strategic litigation as part of a social justice campaign such as Rethink Your Drink, what the potential risks and benefits are, and how the strategy has been used so far to fight alcohol harms in South Africa.
To read this learning brief, download a PDF, or read it magazine-style on ISSUU.
