Stakeholder narratives on alcohol governance in the Western Cape: the socio-spatial 'nuisance' of drink

This paper examines, on one hand, the current regulatory environment in relation to alcohol retailing and consumption in South Africa's Western Cape. On the other, it explores how stakeholders of such regulations formulate, comprehend and act upon the 'problem' of drinking. As a result, the paper aims to tease out the discrepancies between what is said (of alcohol by policy-makers) and what is done (about alcohol within policy) through the conceptual lens of alcohol as 'nuisance'. It does this in order to: (1) deepen current empirical engagements with alcohol control policies in South Africa and the Global South; (2) explore what stakeholders 'know' or believe about the drinking practices that they seek to regulate and (3) highlight the dynamic tensions between what is said and what is done. In so doing, the paper contributes novel empirical data to the growing cannon of geographical engagements with drinking practices and policies by situating its analysis in the context of the Western Cape. As a result, the paper marks out an original contribution to the multidisciplinary field of critical alcohol studies, as well as South African geographical research.