‘You Decide’

The You Decide programme is about showing teens how the choices they make now impacts on their futures.

The programme includes school visits and creates an interactive theatre performance on underage drinking.

891 schools were visited in five provinces by the You Decide campaign.

This comes after a partnership between the South African Breweries (SAB), the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and the Department of Trade (DTI).

These partnerships have helped the message of negative consequences of teenage drinking being delivered to 500 000 pupils across South Africa

You Decide programme have launched a campaign to curb underage drinking with a creation of a new reality TV show.

It is a 13 part reality TV show, called Future Leaders, debuts on SABC 1 and aims to deliver this message to an expanded national audience of millions of South Africans.

The series features the lives of five ordinary teenagers from different walks of life in South Africa who have previously experimented with alcohol.

The finalists have seen what underage drinking has done to their communities and want to become role models to their peers.

Each finalist will be mentored and coached by a finalist of the popular One Day programme on SABC 1.

Vincent Maphai SAB executive director of corporate affairs and transformation said, “We are committed to playing our role as a responsible corporate citizen and the largest liquor manufacturer in the country, to ensure we minimise the future growth.”

“The underage consumption of liquor ultimately threatens the future growth and development of our communities and our country,” said Maphai.

The two main drivers of teen drinking are for social acceptance and escape from worries either home or personal, this is from a Substance Abuse Survey done in 2012 by University of South Africa (UNISA).

In some provinces, 86% of teens as young as 14 are drinking, according to the Substance Abuse Survey.