swaziland times

MANZINI – At least four residents of Madonsa have died after consuming Mankanjan liquor.

The community is calling on the Royal Village to take action against illegal home brewing. Mankanjane, also known as “dontonto”, is an illegally produced alcoholic beverage that is clear in color and has the smell of methylated spirits. This intoxicating drink is made from harmful ingredients and then mixed with corn and sugar cane.
Available in some bars in Swaziland, the drink has been linked to violence and, more recently, death. The latest incident took place in Madonsa, in the Manzini North constituency, whose parliamentary representative is Sifiso Mashayinkonjane Nlengatefwa. Most of the people in the community work in the retail sector and are also affected by urban poverty, as 35.6% of the population is unemployed.

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Their plight forced some unemployed people to start collecting scrap and transporting it to a town seven kilometers away to sell it. They can only make ends meet with their meagre income. Among the dead was a man in his 20s who was found dead after consuming illegally brewed liquor. According to a community member who recently lost his brother, he had warned him several times about the dangers of consuming “dontonto”. He said this was after learning that some community members had died from illegally brewed liquor.

He said most of the people who drink the illegal drink are unemployed community members who earn money in one way or another. He said they usually wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning and their first stop is the taverns before they start making money. “When people go to work at 6 to 7 in the morning, they find people in the taverns already drinking this poisonous drink,” he said. He said their concern as a community is that the people who run the taverns do not care about the effect of the drink on their patrons. “The money they get from this business is no different than blood money,” he said. He said the behavior of people who drink the drink shows that it is poisonous because sometimes they are found sleeping on the side of the road and urinating on themselves. Despite this, he said they continue to drink the drink week after week.

Shebins

The incident was reportedly not an isolated one and as a result, community police have been tasked to crack down on unlicensed pubs that sell illegal alcoholic beverages. The community’s call for action was said to be motivated by concerns from some community members who reportedly noticed an increase in deaths among people who consumed such beverages in the community. The deaths are said to have occurred at various times in the past few months and now. According to a concerned resident of the Madonsa community, this is not the first time they have recorded deaths related to the illegal drink, with similar incidents occurring in 2016 and 2017. As a result, he said, all bars that sell the homemade beer have been banned from selling it.

He said in the first few months of this year they were aware of about four pubs that had resumed selling the traditional beer and there had been some deaths linked to it. Recently, he said, some customers of a pub that sold Mankangani had died. He said the boy drank the liquor during the day and was found dead at his house the next morning. He claimed that some women also fell ill and died a few days later. According to sources, most people go to the bar early in the morning before having a proper meal and after drinking, they are not hungry, which means they lose their appetite.

He said some people get up at 5am to go to the bars. He said most people prefer the illegal brew to traditional alcoholic drinks because it is cheaper. He said a 500ml bottle of the drink costs about 6 euros. He again said that what they noticed was that, unlike other alcoholic drinks, it was easier to buy dontonto with a credit card. This made them prefer the drink as a cheap alternative to keep them busy and forget their troubles for a while. The community member again said that dontonto drinkers also seemed not to consider the amount of money that would require hospitalization due to the health effects of consuming the drink. “They only care about getting drunk immediately,” he said.

Consumption

Meanwhile, community member Calvin Kunene confirmed concerns about the sale and consumption of dontonto in the area, saying the issue was raised during a community meeting held at Mnyenyweni Royal Kraal. He said the issue was raised by concerned community members, some of whom had lost loved ones and attributed the deaths to the illegal brew.

“The problem is serious because young men and women have turned into old men and women. I tell you, their appearance changes in two to three months because these people do not eat while drinking this illegal alcoholic beverage. “They become skinny and their hair looks like it has been coated with hair chemicals. These people are dying and I know of four deaths linked to Dontonto beer,” the community police officer said. He said after the issue was raised at the meeting, they took a resolution that as community police they should work with residents to crack down on illegal bars and shut them down. However, he said their efforts have so far hit a roadblock because the illegal bar operators are aware of the operation and they have been vigilant. He said they needed more support from the Royal Corral to ensure the exercise was a success and prevent further deaths.