Few people can afford to drink daily as the economy tanks. From poverty to apathy. It is just that the few who drink religious, even fewer who are quite noisy and visible to all thus the sensationalisation.
The numbers in the alcohol industry and taxes have always been depressed - just govt and depressed people looking for easy scapegoat to blame their shit on.
The mwafrika govts are hellbent on finishing the bars. This is in a way good as it may mean the few coins go to the household budget, but it may mean poverty given the robust alcohol value chain. Most bartenders were doing quite well than even teachers- taking their kids to private schools; supporting elderly parents, siblings.