Cape Town side steps Sunday liquor ban
But city still intent on using legislation to curb alcohol abuse , writes Bekezela Phakathi
WHILE the Cape Town city council last week made a dramatic about turn and suspended its plan to ban Sunday liquor sales, authorities are going all out to enforce the bulk of the city’s new controversial by-laws meant to curb alcohol abuse.
However, observers say the city does not have sufficient capacity to implement the unpopular by-law and that it is unlikely that the legislation on its own will restrict alcohol abuse or alcohol-related crime and accidents. They say the by-law will fuel illegal trade in and around Cape Town.
But Cape Town will be counting on a new dedicated liquor enforcement and compliance unit that will conduct random inspections to enforce the by-law from this week.
The move by Cape Town comes as Gauteng is also considering a Sunday liquor ban, although early public submissions appear to indicate this too will not succeed.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the Liquor Act is awaiting final amendments that would allow liquor stores to open on Sundays — a departure from the current situation.
Earlier this year, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial authorities said allowing outlets to trade on Sundays would be in line with the constitution which recognises the country as a secular state.
The existing Sunday ban is a remnant of the previous regime, they said.
According to research by Johannesburg-based nonprofit organisation Africa Check, that was published last month, restrictions on the hours or days of alcohol sales can work if accompanied by a squeeze on illegal traders, suggesting that policing will be key.
According to the research, “a reduction of the hours or days of sale of alcoholic beverages leads to fewer alcohol-related problems, including homicides and assaults.”
“Systematic reviews and meta-analyses show that policies regulating the environment in which alcohol is marketed (particularly its price and availability) are effective in reducing alcohol-related harm,” the authors say.
This could well be an approach Cape Town will be keen to follow.
The city’s Liquor Trading Days and Hours by-law came into effect on Monday following a week of drama when city authorities submitted an urgent motion to amend a controversial clause in the by-law banning liquor sales on Sundays.
The by-law will now go through a further two rounds of public consultations.
Mayoral committee member for economic, environmental and spatial planning Garreth Bloor says the first round, which will run for 30 days, is expected to start this month and will be advertised in the media.
The second round is a 45-day period that will allow for input on draft amendments, as informed by the first round.
The city says new information “showed the Sunday booze ban would have dire consequences on businesses and job creation”.
According to the South African Liquor Traders Association, liquor traders make 20%-30% of their profits on Sundays.
While the new clause dealing with Sunday trade is suspended for now, the bulk of the by-law looks set to remain as is.
This means that liquor traders may not trade after 6pm from Monday to Saturday — while clubs, hotels and casinos, among others, can extend their cut-off time to sell liquor from 2am to 4am, on condition they apply for an exemption.
Traders in liquor for offpremises consumption also have to stop trading at 6pm.
Previously, a store could trade from 8am-8pm.
Industry players fear cutting trading hours will reduce profits and lead to job losses. They say outlets make most of their profit during “peak hour”, when people get back from work.
South African Liquor Traders Association president Saint Madlala says the decision by Cape Town to rethink the ban on Sunday liquor sales is the right thing to do. But, he says, “they should not keep us in suspense, they should just scrap the whole idea,” he says.
Mr Madlala says a ban on Sunday sales and reducing trading hours will hurt the industry and will not solve the problem of alcohol abuse.
“Traders will just go underground, an alternative would be investing in educational campaigns,” Mr Madlala says.
Jean-Pierre Smith, Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for safety and security says regulating liquor traders is a step the city has to take because “you cannot really regulate the way people consume alcohol”.
Mr Smith says he has seen first-hand the harmful effects of alcohol on society.
“We have a major alcohol problem; you just need to spend a night with paramedics and you will see that most incidents are alcohol-related … whether it’s car accidents or people being run over … alcohol is usually involved,” Mr Smith says.
“We do not want to overregulate … we first want to (alert) traders about the by-law”.