Pretoria - Visitors to Mpumalanga nearly faced a dry festive season - not only weather wise, but also on the alcohol front, as teething problems in issuing new liquor licences could have forced various hotels and camps in the Kruger National Park to close their taps by midnight on December 31.
Pretoria lawyer Marius Blom turned to the high court in Pretoria on behalf of more than 48 hotels, liquor outlets and lodges to ensure that there would be enough alcohol available for these outlets to toast the new year.
He said that all his clients, including shops at Skukuza, Satara and other major Kruger National Park camps, nearly all the Pick & Pay outlets in the province and even upmarket Timbavati River Lodge, faced grave trouble with the law enforcement agencies if they continued serving alcohol a minute past midnight on December 31.
This is because in spite of having applied for their new liquor licences and even having paid for them, these had not yet been issued by the authorities. All they have is their old licences in terms of the previous Liquor Act.
But tourists to Mpumalanga can now breathe easier again, as the liquor authority in that province undertook not to close down these premises or prosecute the owners if they could not produce new licences.
However, they have to provide proof of payment for their new licences and proof they actually hold an old licence if they receive a visit from liquor licence inspectors.
Advocate Linda Pretorius, on behalf of the various businesses, told the court the matter was extremely urgent, as they stood to trade unlawfully at the end of this month, which is a criminal offence.
She asked for an order compelling the liquor authority to issue the businesses each with a new licence immediately. Pretorius said they had done everything necessary to renew their licences for 2016 and submitted their applications and payments three months ahead of time, as required by the authority.
The new licences were due to be issued by the beginning of December, well in time for the festive season. Up to now not a single licence had been issued, she said.
The acting head of the Mpumalanga Liquor Authority, Nivard Lubisi, admitted that since the new Liquor Act in the province came into effect in August last year, there have been teething problems. He said the manner in which the old Liquor Board operated was totally different from the present Liquor Authority.
This necessitated the establishment of new structures and transitional arrangements had to be made. The Liquor Authority was only formally established in April this year, which meant a new computerised system. This system did not work and applications had to be processed manually. It was then discovered that the certificate issued as proof of licence could be forged and this system had to be changed.
Lubisi said they were catching up, although they still had a backlog. He could not understand the concerns of the businesses still waiting for their new licences, as their old ones would only expire by the end of this year.
He said the police and liquor inspectors had been told not to arrest those without a licence after this time lapse, provided they could prove they had applied for new licences and paid the fees.
Pretorius wanted an official undertaking in this regard, which was provided.
Pretoria News
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