Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs once again caught out people who were allegedly not following the law and kept their businesses open during the lockdown.
This time the department’s operations were at the Endumeni Municipality (Dundee) where they shut down a bottle store that allegedly continued to operate despite the ban on the sale of liquor.
The bottle store owner and his sons denied any wrongdoing despite compelling evidence resulting in their CCTV, cash register and point of sale equipment being seized when they could not demonstrate when the last transaction had taken place.
In a statement, the department said the liquor outlet had also had all of its stock confiscated and was shut down.
MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube said: “This is shocking that business owners can blatantly disregard the law and lockdown regulations. We will go after everyone who breaks the law regardless of who they are and what their standing in society is. There are no sacred cows. I wish to applaud our entity, the local Endumeni mayor and the police for their swift reaction to this. Working together we will flatten the curve and defeat the coronavirus.”
She was accompanied by the SAPS and the KZN Liquor Authority. They found the liquor store open after they received a tip-off from Jomo Sibiya, a member of the KZN legislature.
The department also went out to supermarkets that were allegedly engaging in price gouging. Dube-Ncube checked on the Pick * Pay and Spar in the area as they had received complaints about high prices on essential food items.
She was not satisfied by the exorbitant prices of essential food items on the shelves. She was also unhappy that Spar had kept damaged cans of beans and tinned fish on the shelves, saying this was a huge health hazard and ordered the removal of such items.
This was one of numerous raids the department has conducted in the province since the lockdown began.
Last week, a man was arrested after he was found to be illegally producing masks at a factory in Glen Anil. Ming Lai He, the owner of Chen Lu factory, had allegedly forced his 14 workers to work for almost a week. He was released on bail of R20 000. A call centre in uMhlanga was also raided for breaking Disaster Management rules. The chief executive, Mark Deva Chana, was released on R5 000 bail.