Even though fewer than one in three South Africans aged 15 and older consume alcohol, we are still ranked among the heaviest drinking countries in the world. That’s because the people who do drink tend to drink heavily — with South African drinkers consuming an average of 33.5 grams of pure alcohol per day, compared to the global average of 27 grams. A significant portion of this drinking is binge drinking: consuming 60g or more of pure alcohol (about five or more standard drinks) in one sitting.
While the alcohol industry contributes roughly R68 billion a year to the economy — about 3% of South Africa’s GDP — the cost of alcohol harm is much greater. A 2014 study estimated the total social and economic cost of harmful alcohol use at R277 billion annually. Adjusted for inflation, this figure rises to an estimated R433 billion by 2023, equivalent to around 10–12% of the country’s GDP. These costs include health care, crime and violence, road crashes, and lost productivity.
Source: Rehm J, Rovira P, Llamosas-Falcón L, Shield KD (2021). Dose-Response Relationships between Levels of Alcohol Use and Risks of Mortality or Disease, for All People, by Age, Sex, and Specific Risk Factors. Nutrients.13(8):2652
Chikritzhs, T., & Livingston, M. (2021). Alcohol and the Risk of Injury. Nutrients, 13(8), 2777. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13082777
The majority of South Africans are stuck in an inequality trap with wealth concentrated in the hands of a few. Most are stuck in intergenerational loops of exclusion with few chances to escape. Breaking this cycle requires a fundamental change in life trajectories, starting in the womb.
Think of a Möbius strip – just one twist in the circle allows you to trace a completely different pattern. Instead of being stuck on the inside of a loop, you emerge on the outside. In the same way, escaping the inequality trap requires a fundamental twist to set South Africa on a new path.
Rethink Your Drink is a reimagined alcohol harms reduction campaign by DGMT to challenge the norms, policies and industry practices that promote and normalise heavy drinking. The campaign doesn’t oppose alcohol consumption entirely – it targets the conditions that make excessive drinking widespread, especially among young people and in under-resourced communities.
Our work is rooted in the World Health Organisation’s five ‘best buy’ strategies:
Through Rethink Your Drink, DGMT is working to shift both national policy and everyday behaviour. We collaborate across sectors – with government, civil society, researchers, tavern associations, and the public – to create the conditions for less harmful alcohol consumption in South Africa.
Our approach includes:
Rethink Your Drink is about changing the narrative around alcohol – from one of personal choice and industry profit, to one of collective wellbeing and systemic change. We believe that reducing heavy drinking is essential to breaking the intergenerational cycle of inequality in South Africa.
Trying to change life trajectories is ambitious and profound. It requires us to radically influence the lives of individuals and to be part of changing the circumstances in which they live.
On 20 August 2020 DGMT CEO, Dr David Harrison, presented to the Portfolio Committee on Gender-Based Violence in the Ministry of Women, Youth and Person with Disability around the five measures we propose to curb alcohol abuse and how that abuse is linked to gender-based violence.
On 24 August 2020 a webinar was convened by the Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane in direct response to the public appeal collated by DGMT and signed by over 160 researchers, academics and other interested parties, calling on government to implement five measure to address the binge drinking and alcohol abuse problem in South Africa.
Get the latest news & updates:
Join the conversation:
This website by DGMT is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License
