Johannesburg
- South Africa is already mired in the complexity of having more than 40
national and provincial liquor-related policies and regulations, as well as
countless municipal by-laws, and the proposed Draft Liquor Amendment Bill of
2016 is all set to complicate the liquor regulatory environment even more.
This is
the view of the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa’s (FEDHASA)
CEO Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa.
“There
is currently a confusing and fragmented proliferation of legislation which
raises significant challenges and difficulties in effectively regulating the
liquor trade in South Africa,” he says. “Instead of addressing this, the
proposed Amendment Bill instead fosters even more issues.”
FEDHASA
represents the interests of more than 10 000 direct and associate members in
the South African hospitality industry including hotels, B&Bs, guest
houses, game lodges, restaurants, pubs, taverns, shebeens, conference centres
and casinos. In its submission to the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI), FEDHASA has called on the Director-General to persuade provincial
governments to adopt a standardised, pragmatic approach to all aspects of
liquor licencing and liquor trading in South Africa.
“What would
make sense,” Tshifhiwa points out “is that the DTI works towards a single
national liquor act, a single provincial liquor act and a single bylaw that
provides for the trading days and hours of on- and off-consumption liquor
licenced establishments which can be enforced by all local municipalities”.
Read also: Liquor bill submission deadline shift
However,
it is not just the possibility of a promulgation of yet another piece of
liquor-related regulation that concerns FEDHASA. “Unfortunately, the draft
legislation has also not been subjected to economic impact assessment,” says
Tshifhiwa. “If this law comes into effect, several of the proposed amendments
will have detrimental impacts on all the many stable, good businesses that are
making an important contribution to our economy. Some of the amendments will be
all but impossible to regulate, thus placing an extraordinary burden on the administrators
responsible for controlling the liquor trade in South Africa.”
Amongst
the controversial proposals is the prohibition of selling alcohol to citizens
or visitors between the ages of 18 and 21.
Not Constitutional
FEDHASA
points out that, in regard to South Africans, this age range could simply be
unconstitutional. “If a citizen between the ages of 18 and 21 is eligible
to join the defence force, vote, drive a motor vehicle, get married and enter
into a legal contract, they should undoubtedly be permitted to consume alcohol
in a responsible manner,” Tshifhiwa notes.
Apart
from encroaching on personal freedom, the raising of the age limit for legal
drinking would have a damaging impact on hospitality businesses particularly in
university and holiday towns.
Another
problematic clause is this one regarding the proximity of a liquor-licenced
establishment:
“
The manufacturing, distribution or retail
sale of liquor in either rural or urban community is prohibited on any location
that is less than five hundred (500) metres away from schools, place of
worship, recreational facilities, rehabilitation or treatment centres,
residential areas, public institutions and other like amenities.
“This is
an astonishing proposal and yet another example of how this draft bill seems
not to have been thought through properly at all.” Tshifhiwa says, “Most of the
country’s B&B’s and guesthouses, local neighbourhood restaurants, many
hotels across the way from say a park or a beach promenade and lots of pubs
down the road from post offices would all be unable to secure a liquor
licence. It would literally mean that the only establishments that could
sell liquor in South Africa would be far out in the wilderness somewhere.
It is clearly not a practical or beneficial idea.”
Part of
the problem, Tshifhiwa points out, is that the proposed Act has not been
subject to an economic impact assessment process. “This is something we would
welcome,” he says. “There would then be absolute clarity for all parties on how
this legislation would affect the country’s vital hospitality sector.”
Comments
on the Draft Liquor Amendment Bill 2016 from interested stakeholders and the
public will have closed on December 15.
*Adapted from a press release
BUSINESS REPORT