Total ban on drinking and driving spells disaster for industry's sustainability, warns brewery giant

TRANSPORT Minister Barbara Creecy's proposed total ban on drinking alcoholic beverages while driving will not necessarily decline consumption but lead to a shift into the illegal market, says the South African Breweries (SAB).

Creecy recently announced plans to amend road regulations to ban drinking while driving, citing road fatalities as a major concern. At the time, she was presenting preliminary road safety statistics for the 2025/2026 festive season last week, saying she found it difficult to justify the continued existence of laws that allow people to drink and drive. 

“I can not explain this to anyone who has lost their parents, a brother, a sister, or a child as a result of the road accident,” she said.

“A law that allows drivers to drink a certain amount and then get behind the wheel of a car must be scrapped. So we will begin an amendment to Section 65 of the National Road Traffic Act. If nothing else we owe this to the memory of the many fellow South Africans who have lost their lives on the roads,” Creecy said.

However, the SAB has warned a total ban will fuel the illicit liquor trade, threatening the legal industry's sustainability.

SAB spokesperson Lungile Manganyi said his organisation  had already submitted a stark warning to the Tax Policy Review process, arguing that excessive excise hikes will benefit illicit liquor trade and threaten the sustainability of the legal alcohol industry.

He cited research that found that illicit alcohol accounts for approximately 18% of total alcohol consumption in South Africa "meaning that nearly one in every five alcoholic beverages consumed is illicit".

"Against this backdrop, any policy proposals that result in above-inflation excise increases must be carefully assessed in light of their trade-offs and unintended consequences," he said

SAB mentioned that the closure of local production facilities by a major tobacco manufacturer has been attributed, in large part, to the overwhelming prevalence of illicit trade, which eroded legal volumes and undermined the viability of compliant operations.

 "Where legal products become increasingly unaffordable and enforcement against illicit trade remains weak, consumption does not decline — it shifts into the illegal market. The consequences are clear: declining legal sales, job losses, reduced local manufacturing, and ultimately lower tax revenues for the state," said Manganyi.

Cape Times