Club fined for operating after curfew
SOME of the illegal events taking place after curfew are breeding grounds for crime – including drug abuse, violence and sexual assaults – as they happen under the cover of darkness, says the City. A local club in Woodstock was issued with an admission of guilt fine for contravening the Disaster Management Act.
“Liquor was also confiscated and the circumstances surrounding the event are being investigated by police. It is our observation that the event was a private one attended by patrons who booked online,” said police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut.
Ward 115 councillor Ian McMahon said the matter had been reported to the SAPS and the Western Cape Liquor Authority. “I received a complaint from residents a few months ago, saying that there is a place called City Club Pizza in Scott Street. All the young people hang out there at 10pm and they all get taken away by a kombi and they arrive back at about 4am, and they are drunk, yelling and shouting and waking up residents.
“They have been basically picking up these young people and taking them to some sort of underground club,” he said.
McMahon said that after the SAPS and metro police investigated the kombi, that “service” has since stopped.
McMahon has called on SAPS to investigate the underground club.
The City Club could not be reached for comment.
The City said an event organiser found hosting a gathering without a permit during a site inspection at a Salt River venue in June was detained and fined R3 500 for contravening the Disaster Management Act regulations and the Liquor Act for the sale of alcohol without having a liquor licence.
In March, another event organiser was fined R4 000 for hosting an unpermitted event in the CBD and contravening several laws, including the Liquor Act, by serving alcohol without a liquor licence.
The Events Permit Office issued a number of warning letters to event organisers over the past few months. Eight of those event organisers later submitted applications for permits, while five cancelled the planned illegal events.
“The Events Permit Office has been constantly receiving complaints about illegal events and it is important that we increase our enforcement operations against these events. It is especially important now, when we want to recover from the pandemic, to clamp down on these potential superspreader events,” said Cape Town City Council's mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith.
Anyone suspecting an illegal event or advertisement is urged to email events.permit@capetown.go.za or call the City's Events Permit Office on 021 417 4035.