No alcohol ad ban foreseen, says government

In a move to bolster confidence in South Africa's 2010 Soccer World Cup bid, Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour has given his assurance to SA Breweries (SAB) that he would do his best to protect their sponsorship. This comes after Castle Lager put R10-million into the bid campaign.

Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who in her bidget speech said that there should be tighter control of marketing and sale of alcohol to young people, has also said that any future legislation would not be as severe as the tobacco laws.

According to spokesman Adrian Botha, SAB is concerned that an alcohol ad ban would affect South Africa's chances of hosting the event. With Balfour's involvement now they are, however, "pretty comfortable" that legislation in the near future would not have an impact on sponsorship. US beer company Budweiser is a major sponsor of Fifa, Soccer's world governing body.

Although "comfortable" that an alcohol ad ban was not on the cards, Jordaan said that if such a ban was envisaged there would first have to be public hearings, and that SAB would then make submissions to present their case.