Bottle store owner takes NATCOM to court
SUFFERING: She wants the court to issue an order compelling the national commissioner of police to release the confiscated consignment of alcoholic beverages, which formed part of the stock.
MBABANE – The proprietor of Lowveld Bottle Store at Croydon fears that police might consume during their end of year parties alcoholic beverages they confiscated from her business.
Sindi Sweetness Langwenya, trading as Lowveld Bottle Store, has since taken the National Commissioner of Police, William Tsintsibala Dlamini, to the High Court. She wants the court to issue an order compelling the national commissioner of police to release the confiscated consignment of alcoholic beverages, which formed part of the stock.
The beverages were confiscated by Mliba police because the drinks were allegedly being sold in the butchery and grocery store, which are also operated by Langwenya, without a licence.
Decision
The beverages included five cases of 440ml of Amstel, five cases of 660ml and three units of Windhoek Draught, four cases of 660ml of Hunter’s Dry, one case of 660ml Hard Lemon and 15 units of 1.5 litres of white Autumn Harvest.
Lanwenya wants the court to review the decision of the police to confiscate the stock after allegedly coercing the employee, Vamsile Mthembu. She further applied that the national commissioner reimburses the business an amount of E2 000 which it paid as admission of guilt.
The incident, according to Langwenya, happened in October 2021 when police officers from Mliba Police Station arrived at the business premises and confiscated the liquor stock which she said was stored along the passage leading to the butchery and grocery store from the bottle store.
The police, according to Langwenya, accused them of selling the liquor in the butchery and grocery store when at all material times they were sold at the bottle store. She denied that the liquor was sold at the butchery or grocery store.
She told the court that no one was found being sold the liquor and nothing was unlawful about keeping some of the booze in the passage and around the butchery premises to warrant that it be confiscated.
Promised
“The actions of the first respondent (national commissioner of police) can even amount to theft and upon reporting same to the station commander, one Bhembe, he promised to assist by producing my stock before the magistrate at Mliba so that I can be heard during an application for disposal of my stock. Upon pursing same, this has been in vain and I am reliably informed that these items might be consumed by members of the police in their Christmas parties,” submitted Langwenya.
The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court. The applicants are represented by Martin ‘Internash’ Dlamini.
She informed the court that the receipt issued by the police for the money that was paid as admission of guilt was allegedly misleading in order to misguide any judicial officer who may have to deal with any disposal proceedings. She alleged that it was a calculated ploy by the police to achieve an injustice while her business suffered prejudice.
According to Langwenya, they were never called to appear before any judicial officer in relation to any disposal proceedings. She argued that this was wrong because she deserved to be heard before her stock was disposed of.
Planned
“I have just been informed by some officers who are our clients that indeed there is a party being planned and my stock of liquor will be part of the resources to be consumed by the officers,” she added.
Langwenya submitted that the decision to impound her stock was reviewable and must accordingly be set aside. The supervisor of the business,
Mthembu, in her confirmatory papers, submitted that she was arrested and taken to Mliba Police Station by the police officers who arrived at the bottle store.
She disputed that any of the employees sold the drinks anywhere else but at the bottle store. She alleged that she was threatened with incarceration if she did not pay the E2 000 admission of guilt.
Mtembu also alleged that she had been informed by police officers who did not agree with the confiscation of the stock that the liquor would form part of refreshments during a Christmas party by the police.
“I am reliably informed that these items might be consumed by members of the police in their Christmas parties.”
Consignment
Dlamini, the National Commissioner of Police, in his answering papers, informed the court that it was not possible to release the consignment to the applicants because it was destroyed many months ago. He said an order to that effect was granted on September 16, 2021 and the process that the applicants had now instituted was academic.
In any event, Dlamini submitted that the applicants contravened COVID-19 regulations by selling alcohol to the public on a Saturday, on which the sale of alcohol was prohibited. He said they were selling to the public through the butchery. The butchery, according to Dlamini, had no licence to sell alcohol.
He said the police arrested Vamsile Mthembu and Vuyisile Mthembu. According to Dlamini, Vamsile admitted liability after being arrested and paid an admission of guilt, waiving her right to contest the matter in court.
The national commissioner said the fact that Langwenya ran the businesses under one roof, did not mean that all the stores which she trades in had a licence to sell alcohol.
“The liquor licence was and is specifically granted for the bottle store. It cannot be construed to mean that, just because one person operates from the same building as a sole proprietor, then all the shops have a legal permit to sell alcohol,” said Dlamini.
Entered
He informed the court that members of the public who were found drinking outside the butchery told the police that they were sold the alcohol from the butchery. Dlamini said when the police officers entered the butchery, they found large quantities of liquor inside.
“Moreover, even if the applicants sold the alcohol from the bottle store as alleged, their conduct was still unlawful due to the fact that they were still in contravention of the COVID-19 regulations,” said Dlamini. He pointed out that the admission of guilt was paid in September and not in October as alleged by the applicants.
He stated that it was inconceivable of the police to coerce an accused person to pay the admission of guilt before being released from custody when the person had been formally charged. The national commissioner also said the police had no duty to consult a convicted individual on how to dispose of an exhibit. The applicants, according to Dlamini, took three months to approach the court yet they argued that the matter was urgent. He said the matter was finalised in September. The matter is pending before Judge Nkosinathi Maseko.