Cheap wine 'replacing papsak'
The banning of the sale of papsakke, cheap low quality wine in foil bags, was welcomed in 2007 by wine associations but now a similar cheap wine is being sold in bottles with people buying as much as five litres a day.
Papsakke were banned in September 2007 but many liquor stores and shebeens are still selling poor quality wines for as little as R8 for a 750ml bottle.
At the time, the SA Wine Industry Council welcomed the move, which they said would lead to the eradication of the "papsak culture".
Johan van Rooyen, the then CEO of the council, said the availability of the wine in cheap plastic containers led to alcohol abuse and social disintegration and that the cheap packaging damaged the industry's image.
A liquor store manager in Athlone said it sold "quite a bit" of the cheap wine in one- and two-litre bottles. A one- litre container sold for R12,99 and two litres for R20.
The manager, who declined to be named, said "all kinds of people" came into the shop to buy the cheap wine.
A Midmar liquor store manager said none of its shops sold the wines as they knew they would be "looking for trouble".
"None of our branches sells it because we know it was banned. Street people come in here and buy the box wine and take the foil bag out themselves to make it easy to put in their bags," he said.
Another liquor store manager in Parow said it sold a variety of cheap wines for R8 for a 750ml bottle. It also sold wine in a plastic five-litre bottle, which was similar to papsak and sold for the same price of R35.
"Almost everyone buys it because they can't afford to buy the other wines. We sell about 600 (750ml) bottles a week and some customers come in here four or five times a day," she said.
The shop managers said after people have been drinking they often become violent with one another and with the staff in the shop.
"Once they start drinking, the swearing starts and they become abusive. The guys who come into the store become abusive and drink outside the store. There have been stabbing incidents a few times and one guy almost died in front of the store after his two friends started attacking him with a broken bottle.
"People come in here with their children and even young, pregnant girls drink outside. Children have been taken away from them here at the store because they can't look after them. I see it all the time. They don't have money to look after themselves properly but they will spend the little they have on wine."
A crime trends report in 2007 showed that even though people in some European countries drank far more than South Africans, the level of violence was very low.
Police analysts were looking at patterns of substance abuse, including what went into cheap drinks, with a view to finding a link to violent crime.
The report also said: "The type and quality of alcohol involved differ (in France a good quality of wine is consumed, whereas in South Africa the poorer drinkers tend to rely on cheap, low quality or papsak wine)".