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As South Africa celebrates Youth Month and the 50th anniversary of the 1976 youth rebellion, it faces a defining moment in confronting one of apartheid's enduring legacies: the destructive relationship between alcohol, inequality and social disadvantage.
However, this time the battleground is not the streets of Soweto. This is the National Treasury liquor tax review process.
The review, currently underway, may seem technical and distant from the ordinary South African. Yet its impacts on public health, community safety, youth well-being, and economic productivity are profound. Importantly, this is a rare policy window, emerging only about once a decade. South Africans cannot afford to sit this out.
The Treasury has opened the door to public participation through its discussion paper on alcohol taxation, with a technical workshop earlier this month. The workshop was not just a financial discussion, but part of South Africa's ongoing struggle to protect communities from structural damage.
Fifty years ago, youth protested against the apartheid system that used alcohol as a tool of social control and economic extraction. Beer halls were not innocent entertainment venues. They served as instruments of the apartheid regime, used to deliberately gentrify black communities while generating municipal revenue. Youth rebellion challenged these oppressive structures, including the social destruction associated with beer halls in the townships.
Today South Africa faces a different but related reality. Alcohol is deeply embedded in patterns of violence, road deaths, gender-based violence, mental health crises, family breakdown and pressure on hospitals and emergency services. Communities are bearing the burden of cheap and easily available alcohol.
Evidence from countries that have implemented strong alcohol pricing policies consistently shows reductions in harmful drinking, violence, road injuries and pressure on health care systems.
The Treasury acknowledges these concerns in its discussion paper. Among the proposals currently under consideration are:
- differentiated excise tax bands based on alcohol strength;
- Possibility of taxing alcohol according to actual alcohol content; And
- Discussion on Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP).
These proposals deserve strong public support.
Alcohol taxation globally is considered one of the World Health Organization's “best buys” to reduce alcohol-related harm. The WHO “SAFER” initiative specifically identifies raising prices through excise taxes as one of the most effective interventions. Evidence from countries that have implemented strong alcohol pricing policies consistently shows reductions in harmful drinking, violence, road injuries and pressure on health care systems.
Importantly, the Treasury's proposal to introduce different beer tax bands based on alcohol strength is a major step forward. This signals a move away from treating all alcoholic beverages equally regardless of alcohol content and the associated harms. By encouraging low-alcohol products, the Treasury is beginning to align fiscal policy with public health outcomes.
But the proposal can go further.
The approach advanced by the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REPE) provides a more ambitious and evidence-driven framework. Reap has consistently argued for alcohol taxation systems that more directly target harmful consumption patterns, strengthen health outcomes and better reflect the true societal costs of alcohol-related harm.
In particular the Treasury should consider tightening the proposed bear band. The current proposal puts beverages with 2.5% to 9% alcohol content in the same category. It is very broad. An upper limit closer to 6% would create strong incentives for manufacturers to reformulate products toward lower alcohol content, while discouraging high-strength beer consumption patterns that significantly contribute to excessive drinking.
This matters because beer is the most consumed alcohol product in South Africa and is central to the harmful drinking patterns identified by Treasury.
The generation of 1976 faced systems designed for exploitation and oppression. Perhaps one way to honor that legacy in 2026 is to confront another system that continues to exact a huge social cost on young people and vulnerable communities through excessive alcohol consumption.
Critics will undoubtedly argue that higher taxes will encourage illegal trade or threaten jobs. These arguments are familiar. They accompany almost every effort globally to regulate harmful industries. Yet evidence increasingly shows that effective enforcement measures against trafficking can exist alongside strong public health taxation policies. South Africa does not need to choose between protecting public health and combating trafficking; Both of these have to be done together.
Nor should South Africans be persuaded that alcohol taxation is merely about state revenue collection. This process is fundamentally about reducing the real cost of alcohol harm borne every day by women, children, health care workers, schools, police officers and communities.
The Treasury Workshop was an opportunity for communities, civil society organisations, public health experts, youth structures, traditional leaders and ordinary South Africans to help shape the future direction of alcohol policy in this country.
There is also something deeply symbolic in this conversation taking place during Youth Month. The generation of 1976 faced systems designed for exploitation and oppression. Perhaps one way to honor that legacy in 2026 is to confront another system that continues to exact a huge social cost on young people and vulnerable communities through excessive alcohol consumption.
Today's struggle may not involve the physical demolition of beer halls. This may include supporting proven fiscal policies that reduce harmful drinking, encourage safe products, and put public health above business interests.
Policy reform rarely captures the national imagination. But it must happen, because South Africa will not get another chance like this for another decade.
- Dlamini is Campaign Director at the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance