The Sunday Mail
Victoria Ruzvidzo
Editor’s Brief
This paper has extensively covered the issue of public drinking over the past few weeks, particularly in our Society section and we have decided we will not keep quiet until it is addressed.
It is the duty of the media to highlight issues that need redress and this is one such case.
Not that people should stop drinking.
No! It is not our place to dictate. It is their right to make that choice, but it is where and how that right is exercised that becomes a problem.
The minute a certain right infringes upon the welfare of others, it ceases to be that.
Drinking in public such as on the streets, at residential shopping centres and in other such places is something we find to be unproductive and an ill to society.
One finds people downing beer and mutoriro (illicit spirits) in the middle of the Central Business District (CBD), and on streets such as Angwa, Jason Moyo and Park Street.
The practice is worse at bus terminuses such as Copacabana, Fourth Street and Rezende.
This affects innocent schoolchildren, shoppers and others going about their decent businesses, who have had to devise ways to avoid these spots or are left with no choice but to pass through the maze.
This flies foul of the Government’s valiant efforts to lure investment. It also significantly contributes to the worsening aesthetic look of the city — the Sunshine City status long dimmed by dereliction of duty by our city fathers.
Furthermore, it depicts a populace not focused or engaged in productive pursuits.
Who really are the perpetrators?
They are mainly the touts, foreign currency dealers and many other traders in the informal sector.
They consume alcohol in public places with reckless abandon. It is a free for all and often happens right under the noses of the police.
I am a teetotaller on principle and religious grounds. I, however, do not hold a gun to those who partake of the “merry” waters.
Proceeding on the understanding that quite a number of people drink, I will not attack the act per se, but take exception about where it is done.
Our laws are explicit that public drinking is forbidden.
It boggles the mind that as early as 7am, one finds some people drunk already. What time would they have started boozing?
Will they be seized with the direction of their lives?
We talk about Harare, for example, becoming a world class city. It, in fact, becomes a mirage, given the blatant disregard for health and law practices.
Public drinking leads to an escalation of peace and security risks.
It also sees litter being thrown all over, with environmental considerations being thrown into the dustbin (Pun unintended).
We need to remain mindful that impressions matter. Tourists, for example, find dirty environments unwelcoming. They would rather visit smart, clean and peaceful ones.
Seeing bottles, cans and all sorts of items strewn across the street in the city centre is unsightly and a deviation from our Ubuntu.
At shopping centres, it gets worse.
Schoolchildren are exposed to stuff that can damage their innocent minds. The noise pollution also does not help matters.
Families in nearby houses are forced to sleep in the wee hours after the guzzlers fall asleep, collapse or eventually decide to stagger home.
Gains from ongoing national clean-up campaigns are at risk of being reversed by the public drinking menace.
This also brings us to talk about the current challenge of alcohol and substance abuse that is mostly affecting youths. This goes against all well-conceived intentions.
People continue to abuse them and the authorities mandated to ensure that there is no public drinking are complicit by virtue of their neglect. It surely does not take much to curb this deleterious practice.
At one stage, people fully understood that public drinking was outlawed and there was greater compliance.
People were fined or put in cells, should they be found on the wrong side of the law. Now, inexplicably, it is considered the norm.
Mental health and wellness have assumed greater significance. Excessive drinking, worse, still in public spaces, is largely considered a faulty coping mechanism.
There might be quite a number of problems that people are confronted with daily, but that does not say taking alcohol in excessive amounts will solve them. (Oops not my place again).
On the contrary, the money and time are better deployed elsewhere, in productive engagements.
We have noted with concern rising cases of suicide primarily emanating from domestic disputes.
Crimes of passion are on the rise. But there are better ways of solving them. Drowning oneself in alcohol is neither productive nor efficacious.
Social and familial circles produce better support and solutions. It is irrational to kill oneself on account of the conduct of another.
We search for solutions where we can find them. Typically, multi-sector responses appear to be the panacea to the challenges of public drinking.
This is a growing phenomenon that must be attended to expeditiously.
Gender-based violence finds causality or perpetuation in alcohol. It is a vice which should be decisively dealt with.
Zimbabweans have a reputation of being a very productive people, an attribute we must continue to guard jealously.
Have we come to a stage where anything and everything goes? I think not! The situation is redeemable.
In Rwanda, cleanliness, orderliness, peace and quiet are the order of the day. Hefty fines are imposed on those who litter the streets.
I can imagine the fines that await those who drink in the CBD, if there is anything like that at all. People must naturally go about their business without infringing on others’ rights.
In Dubai, there is zero tolerance for public drinking.
These examples are meant to help us to reflect on some of our conduct and application as a people, Zimbabwean and African. For it is when we look in the mirror that we derive key insights.
The public drinking phenomenon impacts on a whole spectrum of issues. As stated earlier, it has societal, environmental, psychological, economic and legal implications.
As we drive forward, we must, as of necessity, deal with some issues which might at first glance appear small, but have much broader implications.
We need to nip this toxic conduct in the bud. We need to be singularly focused on productivity. We cannot resort to activities which compound the very challenges we wish to solve!
Vision 2030 is clear on what we want to achieve as a country and we need to do our utmost to ensure we all sing from the same hymn book.
No deliberate discord should be allowed or entertained. We must all be in tune.
It is also important to note that people’s behaviour is regulated by what happens to them if or when they flout rules, laws and regulations.
In that case, let the law prevail and be unflinchingly applied.
In this instance, we all need to be our neighbours’ keepers and help enforce law abidance in our small way.
Holding each other to account will make life much easier, even for the municipal and national police.
This is a challenge that can be solved in just one scoop.
“Operation Chidhakwa Kubhawa” should be unleashed. These exercises have a way of instilling the right amount of fear in people. We need to keep our country as decent as it is renowned for.
We need more investment, more tourists and adherence to environment and climate change regulations.
Indeed, tisu vene vacho vanofanira kuvaka nyika. (As citizens, it is our responsibility to build this country). If I heard him correctly, the President said brick by brick, not bottle by bottle.
In God I Trust!
