HEAVY DRINKING AND INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE AT AND AROUND DIFFERENT ALCOHOL OUTLETS IN THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

South Africa has one of the highest per capita alcohol consumption levels in the world, with social norms dictating that when people drink, then consumption is heavy. On the other hand, South Africa also faces a globally unprecedented problem of violence directed particularly against women – a situation which undermines the national development of the country, with possibilities even of hindering the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (Jewkes, Abrahams, Mathews, Seedat, Van Niekerk, Suffla & Ratele, 2009:1-2). There is substantial evidence from various researchers attesting to the relation between alcohol outlets and violence. However, the specific risk factors involved based on the geography of the outlets together with the dynamic nature and distribution of violence remain obscure. The objective of this study is to address this obscurity by investigating the risk factors in heavy drinking and interpersonal violence at and around different alcohol outlets in demarcated areas of the North West province of South Africa.