Western Cape Finance and Economic Development MEC Alan Winde says shebeen owners must take full responsibility for their patrons’ actions.
Winde warned liquor traders they faced having their licences revoked should drunk patrons repeatedly commit crimes at or near to their establishments. This could be one of the first amendments to the recently enacted Western Cape Liquor Act.
“It is all about responsibility,” Winde said. “That trader has to be held responsible in some way. We have to investigate the possibility of adding this into future legislation. It’s happening in other countries around the world, including New Zealand.
“There is nothing currently saying that the (shebeen) owner should be held responsible. But we need to change that. We want to know where the person was served his last drink. We need some method of tracking it, if the incident took place at the outlet or not. This will be for repeat incidents at the same establishment.”
Winde, Milnerton police and senior officials from the Western Cape Liquor Board went on an unannounced liquor blitz in Dunoon on Monday. Winde visited three liquor outlets – all managed by women and owned by men.
At two of the outlets, he called the owners, who were “out”, from his cellphone.
The last outlet, Fourways Tavern, was closed. Winde tried to call the owner, but it appeared he had given the liquor board the wrong number. Winde asked the officials to arrange an urgent meeting with the owner, who, police said, served patrons who were later accused of rape and murder.
The cases were still pending, said police.
“I am standing in your tavern, I’d like to speak to you,” Winde told Mpumelelo Jezile, owner of the Dunoon Inn, a tavern on Dunoon’s main road.
There have been several complaints that Jezile was operating like a liquor store, said Nick Spencer of the Western Cape Liquor Board.
“We have so many problems with this outlet,” Spencer said. “From trading after hours to selling liquor for off-property consumption and several assault cases.”
But Jezile said he was trying his “level best” to abide by the law.
“Why is your liquor licence not displayed?” asked Winde. “Your fire extinguisher expired in March, why haven’t you done anything about it?”
Jezile also made several structural changes to his tavern without informing the liquor board.
He was fined R1 000 on the spot.
“I have no idea of any of the assault complaints,” Jezile said. “People buy alcohol elsewhere and come drink outside my place. They play loud music in their cars and perform all night, but then the police arrest me. I’ve reported this so many times.”
Jezile has 14 days to comply with the liquor board’s requirements for licence holders or his licence will be suspended.
“I will do everything to ensure that I comply, I need this business. It’s tough times and I need to ensure that I abide by the law.”
At the second tavern, Queen’s, which operates out of a garage, owner Lukas Mwashekele, who also had to be called, was fined R1 000 for not having the required “tested” sticker on his fire extinguisher and for not being correctly zoned.
Young men, who were drinking beer after 11am, streamed out of Queen’s as Winde and the media walked in.
Winde congratulated Mwashekele for being “one of the more responsible” traders in the area.
He said he would call a meeting with the City of Cape Town and the board to ensure that zoning applications, which was a problem with several traders, were fast-tracked.
“I’m glad that the authorities are here today to check up on us,” Mwashekele said. “But they also need to get rid of some illegals, those without any licences.”
There are 22 illegal liquor outlets (shebeens) in Dunoon, 18 legal licence holders and 21 applications pending at the liquor board.
Brigadier Marius Stander of the Milnerton police said clamping down on illegal liquor traders and ensuring licensed liquor outlets adhered to the act were the police’s top priorities.
“We’ve seen too much crime as a result of alcohol abuse in our communities,” Stander said.
Winde said police and law enforcement officials carried out 2 000 inspections last year.
“We have to up that this year, and clamp down on thousands more.
“Liquor is a conundrum I have to deal with. It is an economic driver but also a massive hindrance. It affects women and kids the most.”
Winde warned shebeen owners that the next time he surprised them it wouldn’t be on a Monday, but at 2am on a Saturday or Sunday.
Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer said drugs and alcohol were major contributors to most contact crimes, which according to last year’s crime statistics had increased in the province.
Provincial Community Police Forum board chairman Hanif Loonat said the major concern was contact crime related to alcohol and drug abuse. One way to address this problem, said Loonat, wa s for liquor board and city officials to exercise tighter controls on the operating hours of clubs, bars and shebeens.
Alcohol-related violence among binge drinkers was one of the biggest contributions to trauma, injury and death in the Western Cape, and cost the state R6 billion a year.
Sobering stats
* 25 000 illegal shebeens in the Western Cape
* 152 500 people directly or indirectly employed in the informal liquor trade in the Cape support 137 500 people.
* Alcohol-related violence among binge-drinkers is one of the biggest contributors to trauma, injury and death in the Western Cape, and costs the state R6 billion a year.
* SA ranks 10th among countries where drunkenness is most prevalent.
Cape Argus