Eighteen liquor outlets were ordered to close down and nineteen were issued with fines ranging from R500 to R3 000 each during the Operation Blitz which began at 6pm on Thursday and ended at 1am today (Sunday morning).
The operation was conducted by officials from the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), South African Police Service, KwaZulu-Natal Liquor Board, KwaZulu-Natal Gambling Board, and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, in Port Shepstone, Margate, Port Edward and Umzinto on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast to monitor and enforce compliance with the country’s liquor legislation at the weekend. Forty hotels, taverns and sports bars were raided were also raided.
“The outlets were closed down and their owners fined because they did not adhere to the conditions of the liquor licences issued for their businesses. There were those who possessed licences which were issued on condition that they would be running a restaurant and also sell liquor. But when we arrived on the premises we found that there were no signs of a restaurant. Other owners were fined for failure to produce their licences, allowing minors on their premises, operating beyond times stipulated on their licence, and effecting alterations to their buildings without the necessary approval,” said the Deputy Director of Legal Support and Prosecutions in the National Liquor Authority of the dti, Advocate Sandile Nkosi.
Knives and drugs were also found on some of the premises and one patron was arrested for possession of dagga. The operation started on Thursday with inspections of liquor manufacturers and distributors in Margate and Marburg, where primary school children from a nearby school were found playing soccer pool game and machines next to a bottle store. The owner was ordered to close his business until he had fenced off the area to prevent school children from accessing it.
Advocate Nkosi said the operation was a success in that it proved that various government agencies can achieve a lot if they cooperated in monitoring and enforcing compliance with the country liquor laws. “Other than monitoring and enforcing, we also wanted to educate owners and managers of these liquor outlets, as well as their patrons, about the need to comply with the law. The high number of businesses which are contravening their licence conditions proved that there are business people who either flout the law deliberately, or do not understand what the conditions under which their licences were issued entail,” added Nkosi.
The raids were conducted in terms of Section 26 of the National Liquor Act of 2003 which authorises the NLA to conduct inspections.
For further information contact:
Sidwell Medupe
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Clement Manoko
Tel: 012 394 1712
Cell: 082 3118 931
E-mail: NManoko@thedti.gov.za
Source: Department of Trade and Industry
