Nairobi News

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Thirsty South Africans make mad rush to liquor stores to purchase alcohol


Alcohol-thirsty South Africans rushed to liquor stores on Monday to purchase the precious commodity after the country ended a two-month drinking ban.

And in a related development, the Daily Mail reported that thieves in Johannesburg tunnelled through a wall at a local store and stole alcohol worth Sh2 million.

ALCOHOL THEFT

The supermarket said they had no idea on how many people were involved or how long it had taken to drill the tunnel into their store and steal all the booze.

Images from across the country showed people queuing in their dozens at liquors stores before emerging from the shops with crates of beer, wine and spirits.

The authorities imposed restrictions on the sale of alcohol two months ago so as to curb the number of hospital admissions from booze-related violence.

HIGH DEMAND

Before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, alcohol was named as the cause of 40 percent of hospital admissions in South Africa.

Alcohol has been in huge demand in the country since the lockdown with bottles of wine and spirits available on the black market at up to four times the recommended retail price.

Under looser restrictions, alcohol will now be sold for home consumption from Mondays to Thursdays, a welcome relief for the industry on its knees due to a ban.