Online Reporter
ON Saturday, a man died after a drinking binge in which he consumed five bottles of illicit alcohol.
Darlington Willard collapsed and died at a joint called “Pamukoto” at the Main Rank Bus terminus in Chinhoyi.
A relative told H- Metro that Darlington initially arrived at the liquor shop with the intention of buying cigarettes.
However, when he was about to go back home, he was offered the illicit alcohol known as Hudson to drink.
The relative said a guy challenged him to drink the ‘whisky’ and he paid five dollars for the ‘whisky,’”
He said Darlington drank five bottles of the alcoholic drink, including three bottles whose alcohol was not diluted.
The relative said Darlington once drank four bottles of undiluted ‘whisky’ and collapsed but was resuscitated at Chinhoyi Provincial hospital.
When Darlington collapsed on Saturday, his brother was the first relative to arrive at the scene.
Darlington was rushed to hospital in a pushcart.
His brother said he was the one who took his 37- year-old brother to the hospital but it was too late.
He said Darlington was in the habit of abusing the ‘whisky’ without any dilution.
The tragedy has sparked calls from the local residents for police to crack down on those selling illicit alcoholic drinks.
We agree with the Chinhoyi residents that there should be an intense crackdown on the supply chain which is involved in the manufacturing and distribution of these illicit drinks.
We have in the past few weeks seen the police raiding a number of firms, which are involved in the manufacture and distribution of these alcoholic drinks, in and around Harare.
The raids showed that this is a big business and it is booming.
We also saw that there are many foreign businesspeople who are involved in this line of business and they are investing heavily in the criminal enterprise.
They don’t case whatsoever for the damage which is being inflicted by their products with the health of many Zimbabweans being affected and some of them even losing their lives.
Our concern is that while there was a lot of publicity, which came with the successful police raids at these companies, we don’t seem to have seen how the cases involving these directors, many of whom are foreign nationals, ended at the courts.
The cases appear to have died once the police completed their raids.
We have always argued that it is important that examples are set when it comes to such issues of national importance.
We have always argued that the prison terms, which have been meted on wayward kombi drivers in recent weeks, are important in sending a powerful message that their nuisance will not be tolerated on our roads.
This is what we expected in cases involving those who are involved in the manufacturing and distribution of illicit alcoholic drinks in this country.
The network is known and we know that it can be crushed.
