Cele stance on alcohol ‘clear and informed by statistics'
The Police Ministry says the statistics clearly shows that the number of contact crimes have increased since the unbanning of the sale of alcohol.
Police Minister Bheki Cele on Thursday reiterated his belief that the sale of alcohol should remain banned under level 3 of the lockdown regulations.
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Alcohol sales resumed on June 1 when the country eased its lockdown restrictions to level 3.
Ministerial spokesperson Lirandzu Themba says alcohol consumption has put a strain on state resources, including on health services meant to fight the outbreak of coronavirus.
"The minister has made his views very clear with regards to the sale and provision of alcohol and in fact, he has gone as far as saying as if it were up to him there would be a banning of alcohol. This is purely because of the statistics coming from SAPS that show that such crimes like contact crimes... is on the increase.'
"Just on that Monday, the 1st of June, when alcohol was available there was about 1 781 cases that were reported. Within the week there were 8000 cases reported with Gauteng leading the pack."