The news that Amsterdam is to pay alcoholic street sweepers in beer sees the SA dop systeem coming home to roost. “A group of alcoholics in Amsterdam that was causing a public nuisance has been put to work cleaning the city’s streets. The group of men suffering from a chronic level of addiction usually find it impossible to hold down a job but have been persuaded to work under an imaginative scheme that sees them paid in beer and cigarettes. For a day’s work each one is rewarded with half a packet of rolling tobacco, five cans of beer and 10 euros. To keep the workers motivated the beers are handed out in three doses: two in the morning, two at midday and one in the afternoon, once the work is done. The project, run by the Rainbow Foundation, is financed by the Dutch state and donations.”

The hours are not too strenuous – three days a week, from 9 in the morning until 3.30 in the afternoon after which the E10 salary is converted into more beer. With SA a major supplier of wine to the Netherlands, perhaps WOSA can promote a Street Sweeper Shiraz or a Cleaner Chenin.  As charity begins at home, perhaps a pilot project can be launched in Franschhoek which is in dire need of a good clean after the floods last weekend.