A battle over alcohol harm reduction and liquor trading hours in South Africa is heading to the country’s highest court.

On November10, the Constitutional Court will hear a landmark case on provincial liquor legislation in the Northern Cape in a legal intervention spearheaded by civil society organisation DG Murray Trust (DGMT).

At the heart of the legal dispute is whether provincial authorities can expand trading hours without proper public consultation and despite overwhelming public health evidence linking late-night alcohol sales to severe social harm.

Kashifa Ancer, the project lead for DGMT’s Rethink Your Drink Campaign, told Caxton Network News that provinces hold critical legislative powers to drive immediate public health interventions.

“Provinces have the power to make laws regarding liquor retail, so they are where some of the fastest gains around alcohol harm reduction can be made,” said Ancer.

She said their goal is simple: No on-site sales after midnight and no take-away sales on Sundays. “Late-night trading is where the burden of heavy drinking, violence and road crashes is the heaviest. Cutting those hours targets the most harmful drinking without affecting moderate drinkers.”

Challenging by-laws in court

DGMT previously challenged a Kannaland municipal by-law that allowed extended liquor trading seven days a week, which the Western Cape High Court struck down in 2024. Building on its High Court legal intervention, the trust is now taking the Northern Cape provincial legislature to the Constitutional Court.

Ancer questioned whether a province can make it easier to buy alcohol despite clear evidence that longer trading hours fuel violence, road deaths, GBV and other harms, without properly hearing from the public.

Ancer pointed out that during the court proceedings, counsel for the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature conceded that the link between extended trading hours and alcohol-related harm is ‘obvious’.

Trauma, violence and economic costs

Citing research on the impact of sales restrictions, Ancer highlighted how temporary bans during the Covid-19 pandemic provided direct insight into alcohol-related harm. Research indicates that femicide fell by 63% during total alcohol bans and by 43% during periods of restricted trading movement.

“Violence against women and children is rooted in unequal power, but alcohol often ignites it or makes it more severe. Its deeper drivers… will take sustained effort to shift. Curbing heavy drinking, by contrast, can begin immediately,” Ancer explained.

Beyond operating hours, DGMT advocates a comprehensive policy package aligned with World Health Organisation (WHO) standards, as detailed in its Implementing the WHO Best Buys Policy Brief.

Key priorities include minimum unit pricing and excise reform to eliminate cheap, high-strength alcohol; restricting advertising to shield youth; and enforcing mandatory age verification for e-commerce sales and at the point of home delivery.

Addressing industry concerns regarding economic losses, Ancer noted that research puts the societal cost of alcohol harm at 10%–12% of South Africa’s GDP, whereas the liquor industry contributes between 3%–3.6%.

“Tavern owners in low-income communities aren’t getting rich from late-night trading. Longer hours mean they have to pay for extra staff and security… They carry the cost and the risk, while most of the profit flows elsewhere,” Ancer added.

Liquor traders push back

Some retail organisations have opposed the proposed trading restrictions.

Lucky Ntimane, representing the National Liquor Traders Council, argued in an interview with eNCA that the DG Murray Trust’s legal challenge in the Northern Cape lacks a scientific basis and unfairly targets small, legal liquor traders.

Ntimane questioned the rationale behind restricting trading hours to midnight across an entire province, arguing that it penalises all licensed establishments rather than directly addressing localised alcohol abuse. He further contended that differing trading hours across adjacent provinces create a lack of harmonisation, potentially driving consumers across provincial borders to purchase alcohol.

Caxton Network News sent additional questions to Ntimane about the council’s specific proposals on economic impact and self-regulation, but received no response by the time of publication. The article will be updated once a response is received.

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