In his State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the social costs of violence and named restricting access to alcohol and guns as central to prevention. The 2026 Budget speech included important violence prevention measures, but it failed to deliver on a key component: increased taxation on alcohol, firearms and ammunition.

This piece was sent to DA MP Ian Cameron before publication with an offer to respond. He agreed, and his piece can be read here.

Stories about violence fill South Africa's news feeds daily. Women killed by intimate partners. Young men shot in taverns and at taxi ranks. Children caught in the crossfire. Families burying loved ones whose deaths feel both shocking and entirely predictable.

South Africans do not need persuading that we face a crisis of violence. What has often been missing is political clarity and the fiscal support to act.

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In his 2026 State of the Nation Address (Sona), President Cyril Ramaphosa provided some ideas about what we can do to prevent violence. He stated plainly that alcohol abuse drives violence, road accidents and crime, and called for limits on liquor outlet density, trading hours and bulk sales. He also committed to strengthening the regulation of firearms and ammunition, recognising gun violence as a national crisis.

This alignment between public health evidence and political leadership matters.

For years, public health researchers and violence-prevention practitioners have described alcohol and guns as a lethal cocktail in South Africa: alcohol increases the likelihood that disputes escalate into violence; firearms increase...