The Free Market Foundation (FMF) is set to oppose the Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) National Liquor Policy‚ which it says “will effectively ban liquor sales in townships”.

This‚ an FMF statement said on Monday‚ would be a “double blow for township business on back of recent smoking legislation” and asked: “what’s next for the regulated consumer?”

New trading hours and zoned areas‚ under the new policy‚ “takes township taverns and related business back to the apartheid years‚ ignores international evidence and continues mistakes of the past”‚ the FMF said.

It “discriminates against and harms the poorest in society‚ predominantly black” and “transfers law-making functions to the executive rendering the legislative branch of government increasingly redundant”.

The FMF also has an issue with the proposal to raise the the drinking age from 18 to 21.

“The current drinking age of 18 has logic. Eighteen-year-olds can drive‚ vote‚ marry‚ pursue a career and enter into contracts‚” the FMF statement said.

“It would be anomalous if they are allowed to make all of those big decisions in life but cannot have a drink with a meal or a mate or to celebrate their wedding until they reach 21 years of age.”

As the dti and “department of health bureaucrats advance toward the ‘nanny state’‚ they are gradually and surreptitiously removing individual rights and freedoms”.

“The real question is: where will it end? No one knows what the next agenda will be and where state interference will end.”

The FMF will be outlining its opposition to the new policy at a briefing on July 23‚ noting that public comments on it close on August 13.