Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said the government was forging ahead with barring motorists from drinking any alcohol before they drive.
He expected draft legislation to be in place by December.
This would mean a breathalyser blood/alcohol reading level of zero.
Mbalula was announcing the new transport regulations under Level 2 of the lockdown this week.
He said the Road Traffic Amendment Bill - which included a 0% alcohol level for all motorists - was introduced in June this year in Parliament.
He hoped that Parliament would complete amending the bill before the end of the year, reports Pretoria News.
The legislation was further motivated by research conducted by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), the South African Medical Research Council and Unisa which showed that alcohol was involved in one of every four fatal car accidents between 2016 and 2018.
This cost the country R18.2 billion.
“We estimate alcohol to be implicated in at least 27.1% of all fatal crashes involving driver error of any type,” the researchers said.
The data showed pedestrians were three times as likely to die in crashes where a motorist was intoxicated.
It was proposed at the time that the speed limits on the country’s roads be reduced by 20km/h .
Three Tshwane Metro Police Department officers were killed on Sunday in a head-on collision while pursuing a suspected drunk driver, a week after the ban on liquor sales were lifted for the second time during lockdown.
Empty and full alcohol bottles were found in the suspect’s vehicle.
A case of culpable homicide has been opened.