SA binges on lawlessness, impunity

South Africa has many reputations — some earned, some exaggerated, some inherited from a past we pretend we've outgrown.

- Marlan Padayachee

Road carnage: Twelve learners were killed when the scholar transport vehicle they were travelling in crashed into a truck in Vanderbijlpark in the Vaal. Photo: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers

(Timothy Bernard Independent Newspapers)

But one reputation remains stubbornly accurate: we are a nation that binges. We binge on long weekends, on public holidays, on sport, on politics, on outrage, on celebration and most destructively, on alcohol. And every festive season, the country pays for this addiction in blood.

The 2025-2026 holiday period claimed 1400 lives on our roads. That is not a statistic — it is a national indictment.

The next time we offer the familiar “compliments of the season”, it's worth remembering that the festivities are too often accompanied and complemented by something far darker: a surge in alcohol misuse, drug abuse and gambling addiction that leaves countless families starting the new year in crisis rather than celebration.

Even the once playful post festive mantra, Januworry, has lost its humour - it now reflects a very real and growing crisis of debt, desperation and financial freefall for millions.

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, visibly shaken by the carnage, has called for a total ban on drink driving, arguing that South Africa's tolerance for “just one drink” has become a licence for mass death. She is right. The numbers are not merely high - they are catastrophic.

South Africa records 12 000-14 000 road deaths every year, placing us among the worst in the world.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) estimates the economic cost at R180-R200 billion annually — roughly 3-4% of GDP. That is money that could have built schools, staffed clinics, repaired water systems or strengthened policing. Instead, it is swallowed by a preventable crisis.