A JOINT liquor awareness and enforcement operation comprising of the National Liquor Authority (NLA) arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (the DTI) in partnership with KwaZulu-Natal South African Police Service (SAPS), and the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality has successfully led to 11 illegal trading outlets being shut down, and more than 800 litres of alcohol being confiscated.
Phoenix SAPS station commander, Brigadier Bafana Ndlovu says that the operation was undertaken as a pro-active response to the festive season that is currently in full swing in the country and was particularly extended to the Durban central business district and the townships of Inanda and Phoenix that usually come out tops in statistics of areas that record high alcohol-related incidences in the province.
“Our objective with this mission was to ensure that we maintain the safety of our communities, particularly the townships of Phoenix and Inanda that experience a high surge of violent crimes where alcohol abuse is a common factor. I was also impressed by the positive response from all role-players and find it evident that this operation was a success as we recorded no cases of violent crimes during this operation,” said Brigadier Ndlovu.
In addition, Ndlovu said that the three-day operation also led to the inspection of 13 premises with eight notices issued to traders that were found to be in contravention of their liquor licence conditions.
Meanwhile, members of the public have until Thursday 15 December to submit written comments on the National Liquor Amendment Bill. The Liquor Amendment Bill (the Bill) is intended to address the socio-economic impact of liquor, the slow pace of transformation, standardisation of key aspects of regulation and improved regulatory collaboration. The Bill is also envisioned to eradicate the manufacturing and trading in illegal and illicit alcohol as well as challenges with regards to regulatory capacity within the National Liquor Authority (NLA).
