Ladies and gentlemen of the media
As we have entered the festive season, many Gauteng residents will notice that the provincial government has intensified its interventions to improve the effectiveness of the Arrive Alive Road Safety Campaign.
The festive season is characterised by the spirit of happiness, sharing and socialising and networking with family and friends. It is in this context that we are launching festive season responsible trading in alcohol and consumption thereof.
As government we are very concerned that too many of our people are dying and sustaining permanent injuries unnecessarily, because of accidents on our roads. In many instances it is due to drunken driving.
Our country is also confronted by the serious problem of drug and alcohol abuse. This is one of the primary causes of accidents on our roads, affecting both drivers and pedestrians. We must therefore take the rule very seriously - don't drink and drive! This is to make sure that we minimise the road accidents, abuse of women and children.
It cannot be over-emphasised that alcohol remains the most notorious abused and has grown in popularity amongst the youth.
We have in the past years as the liquor regulating authority faced with the following challenges of illegal traders:
- selling liquor to under age children and pregnant women
- intoxicated patrons victimize learners, educators and members of the community
- the activities within these entities and the associated noise and entertainment interferes with activities at educational institutions and can be a nuisance to residents living in the vicinity
- most of the illegal traders generally trade beyond regulated trading hours
- wholesalers selling liquor to traders without licences
- tavern or sheeben owners operating without licence or permit.
According to the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU) statistics, alcohol is a dominant substance abused in Gauteng with half the patients admitted to treatment centres reporting alcohol as their primary drug. Between the period January to June 2008, 2 768 people were admitted to treatment centres in Gauteng and 1 301 of these admissions was for treatment of alcohol abuse.
It is therefore within this context that the Gauteng Department of Economic Development and the South African Brewers have entered into a partnership to deal with these social ills. The partnership is intended to:
- to promote responsible trading in the liquor industry throughout Gauteng
- to implement processes and systems that will facilitate effective licensing & regulation by the Gauteng Liquor Board
- to facilitate interventions that encourage traders to operate formalised businesses
- to create awareness and educate the general public on the harmful consequences of alcohol abuse
- to empower and assure communities that they can say no to a sheebeen or tavern in their residential areas
- to promote mutual trust and cooperation amongst key stakeholders through regular and efficient participation and engagements.
This partnership is intended together to fight these social ills within our communities. Both parties are concerned about the number of unlicensed liquor outlets in the province and the harmful effects of the abuse of alcohol.
The partnership will be governed by a steering committee made up of representatives from both Gauteng Liquor Board (GLB) and South African Breweries (SAB). It will be the final authority on matters relating to programmes and projects. This partnership will culminate into a singing of a memorandum of understanding early next year.
Furthermore a team of representatives from the GLB, SAB, Community Safety Department, municipalities and the South African Police Service will be set to with a view to into issue of by-law enforcement:
- compliance with licence conditions
- illegal licences.
Working with SAB and other wholesalers we will in the coming year embark on a campaign to clamp down on illegal traders and the wholesalers who sell liquor to unlicensed traders. Government officials who are involved in the issuing of fraudulent licences to illegal operators will not be spared.
Review on the status of the Liqour Board
The department has continued to pay particular attention to the Gauteng Liquor Board, reviewing the Gauteng Liquor Policy and the Gauteng Liquor Act, 2003 to ensure the successful regulation of the liquor industry is in place.
To this end, the process of turning around the Gauteng Liquor Board (GLB) has shown slow, but tangible improvement.
A turn-around strategy has also been developed and is currently under implementation to improve the functionality of the Liquor Office.
It is also worth mentioning that there have been some successes in the Liquor Office, with that office having issued liquor licences in terms of the Act, the inspectors have also continued to play an oversight role on licence holder, amid the difficult conditions they work under.
As part of the continuous service level improvement and re-engineering of GLB to be the most efficient and effective Liquor Board, the department has migrated the collection agent account from the (South African Revenue Service [SARS] to First National Bank [FNB]) which has more branches nationwide, to ensure better payments access for liquor traders when applying for or renewing liquor licences.
The department launched a festive season campaign titled "take back the night" jointly with community safety to match through the streets of Etwatwa and deal with illegal outlets and those next to schools and places of worship; we continue to close down problematic outlets which do not comply through joint operations with SAPS and other law-enforcement agencies to address compliance and enforcement.
During the 2010 FIFA World Cup government extended the trading hours and 37 special licences were issued for all the stadia, fan parks and public viewing areas during the world cup.
The turnaround time must be in line with the 2010 experience.
The Gauteng Liquor Board (GLB), under the auspices of Department of Economic Development is concluding the process of converting liquor licences granted under the National Liquor Act 27 of 1989 to licences under the Gauteng Liquor Act of 2003.
This process of conversion which started at the end of 2008 is now approaching finalisation on 31 December 2010. Licence holders who failed to apply for a conversion renders their licence invalid and therefore they are compelled to stop trading and apply for a new licence.
This means, liquor traders who did not apply for the conversion before the 1 March 2010 have to stop trading and re-apply for a new licence to trade.
We therefore, once again, appeal to every liquor trader in Gauteng to respect what we all say, that this is a Season of Goodwill. That by goodwill we must mean that we take all the necessary measures to protect the health and lives of all the Gauteng residents, including our own.
We also want to urge communities to makes of our six regional offices to lodge complaints about non-compliant traders as well as seeking advice on how to apply for a liquor licence. Below is the list of the six offices:
Johannesburg Regional office
3rd Floor
85 Main Street
Johannesburg
Tel: 082 379 1925 / 073 311 5739
Ekurhuleni Regional Office
Golden Heights Building
2nd Floor
Germiston
Tel: 011 8427450 / 082 379 1944
Metsweding Regional Office
56 Kruger Street
Bronkhorstspruit
Tel: 013 9321673 / 082 379 1948
Sedibeng Regional Office
28 Market Street
Vereeniging
Tel: 016 4300660 / 078 047 8332
Tshwane Regional Office
Central Towers
Van der Walt & Pretorius
Pretoria
Tel: 012 401 0697 / 082 379 1917
West Rand Regional Office
32 Park Street
WestRand
Randfontein
Tel: 082 379 1916 / 073 187 2240
We thank you.
Source: SAPA
