Sky News reported over the weekend how some mothers in South Africa are drinking heavily during pregnancy to damage the unborn child in order to receive disability benefits.
Alex Crawford wrote the piece that shows how dire life is for some living in this country, and adds to the growing amount of bad press the South Africa has received recently.
Sky reported that
State benefits mean 250 South African rand (£20) per child per month for an impoverished family. But disability allowance is a far more lucrative 1200 rand a month (£85).
It has led to a spike in the numbers of babies born with disabilities.
Many of the problems link back to the prevalence of illegal shebeens, or drinking houses, where homemade, highly addictive and damaging alcohol is sold cheaply. For about two rand (14p), you can buy a litre of kah-kah as the locals call it.“If I don’t drink this, I’m like someone who is sick,” Ruth tells us swigging from a transparent bottle containing kah-kah. “I can’t sleep, and I cant think straight but when I have this then I am better and I can do anything.”
Within two sips Ruth (not her real name) was slurring and dribbling. She staggered up to the door to try to change her baby’s nappy before plonking the child on her lap, letting the baby breastfeed while she carried on drinking the toxic liquid.
She told me she drank about “five or six bottles a day” and that this started from “about nine o’clock” in the morning.
