Booza TV, a campaign website dedicated to mobilizing South African society to address alcohol ‘in ways that will make a real difference’, reports that health minister Aaron Motsoaledi remains steadfast in his plans of banning alcohol advertising in public.
At the recent All Africa Environmental Health Congress held in Durban, Motsoaledi again spoke about the issue, and reminded attendees that he is still pursuing his alcohol marketing prohibition plans.
The minister said that despite how much the alcohol industry claims to contribute to the South African economy on a yearly basis, at the same time the country is faced with 39 billion rand (4 billion US dollar) worth of devastation as a result of alcohol misuse. He went on to say that people should not believe that the campaign is going to be put off. “They must not believe that we have forgotten about it, the harmful effect of alcohol are devastating in this country, it’s something we cannot just sit and ignore,” he said.
The minister added, ”So we can’t just say people must choose. We need to do something to make sure that some regulations are put up to reduce these harmful effects of alcohol. We are still going on with it, all I am saying is we don’t want to wake up and rush about it, it’s something that we don’t want to do by excitement, it’s something we have thought very deeply about it.”
Source: BoozaTV 11/20/12