WATCH: Restaurant owner’s altercation with law enforcement over ‘illegal alcohol sales’ goes viral

A Boksburg woman claims her and her family were subjected to unfair treatment by police officers who stormed their business, Manelito Restaurant, in the Boksburg CBD on May 24.

A video clip of a loud altercation between Gauteng Traffic Police and the woman, who police accused of contravening regulations of the Disaster Management Act, has been making the rounds on social media. The woman’s husband, who was also at the restaurant, said his wife was busy cleaning the fridges when the law enforcement agencies, consisting of members of the SAPS, SANDF and Gauteng Traffic Police, arrived.

“After identifying themselves as police, they demanded to enter the restaurant and once inside, a group of traffic officers approached my wife who was busy cleaning the fridges and they started to question her and also accused her of selling alcohol. She told them that she was not selling, but she and the family members were only cleaning the fridges and also preparing for possible reopening after speculation on the likelihood of lifting the ban on alcohol,” explained the husband, who is the business co-owner.

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The police reportedly started to take the alcohol and that sparked a war of words between them and the woman. Following the flaming tempers, the woman was arrested and had a few bottles of alcohol, apparently found outside the fridge she was cleaning, confiscated.

According to the husband, his wife appeared in court, but the matter was postponed until further notice.

“Look, we did nothing wrong here. We are only operating the restaurant and do food deliveries. The police only found us, family members, with my wife busy cleaning the fridges and there was no customer inside or anyone found drinking or buying alcohol here. They, the police, could also see that she was wearing an apron and cleaning with Handy Andy cream. Where is the problem there? I don’t want to talk a lot of stuff because the matter is now in court, but I will always maintain our innocence.”

The Boksburg SAPS confirmed the incident, saying the woman was charged with contravening Covid-19 rules. According to the Boksburg Police Station commander, Col Daniel Baloyi, information received through the Gauteng Traffic Police was that the restaurant was selling alcohol during lockdown.

When police arrived there, they spoke to the woman in question who told them that she was only cleaning.

“The officers asked why some of the alcohol was not inside the fridge, but the investigation turned into a clash over the alcohol found on the table,” said Baloyi.

He could not be drawn to explain as to why the woman was charged with selling alcohol when no person was caught buying or selling. He said that and other issues will be clarified in court.

According to the police report, at about 3.25pm on May 24, members of the law enforcement agencies were patrolling in the area when they spotted a couple of cars in the roadside parking of Kaap Street outside the restaurant. They went inside and found that there were opened beers on the table. The woman was then arrested for selling liquor while alcohol sale is restricted by lockdown rules.

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