Raising the legal drinking age to 21 could save lives
The national health department says it makes sense for the legal drinking age to be set at 21, rather than 18.
The Liquor Amendment Bill Indaba is taking place in Ekurhuleni.
The department also wants to ban the sale of liquor in any location less than 500 metres away from schools, and place more restrictions on alcohol advertising.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says the department's reasons for raising the drinking age are backed up by physiological facts.
"The human brain is not fully developed until the mid-twenties. The effects of alcohol abuse on the as-yet not fully developed brain are greater than they are on the fully developed human brain," says Davies.
The Health Department's Chief Director of Non-Communicable Diseases, Melvyn Freeman, says raising the drinking age could save lives and reduce alcohol abuse among the youth.
"Where self and others can be harmed by a product or by an instrument, government needs to take special heed and a public health approach - and in this case it means increasing the age of legal alcohol to 21," says Freeman.