Shutting down shebeens at 6pm will positively impact crime reduction – Bheki Cele

Police Minister Bheki Cele has said enforcing the regulation that liquor-selling establishments, including shebeens, restaurants, clubs and bars, must close at 6pm on weekdays and Saturdays and at 1pm on Sundays and public holidays will positively impact on crime reduction.

The regulation was put in place by the government as one of the measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Cele was on Friday speaking at a media briefing by himself and justice ministers on the implementation of Covid-19 regulations.

The minister said the South African Police Service (SAPS) had been receiving numerous complaints from community members about such establishments.

“But the problem would be that the shebeen is licensed and it closes according to its certificate and licence. It closes at [midnight], people complain at 11pm. Others close at 2am. Some of them close at 4am, according to the licence. Now there is nobody that closes any other time beyond 6pm, it makes the work of the South African Police very, very, very easy now,” Cele said.

He urged police officers to respond accordingly to complaints of noise emanating from these establishments even if it was reported five minutes after 6pm.

Police officers in uniform and others not would be placed as spotters throughout communities to monitor that the regulation was being adhered to and these spotters would pass on information to the relevant police units that would respond accordingly, the minister said.

“You might see them, you might not see them. Some of them might be [members of the] community [or from] next door,” Cele said.

In instances where people were found to not be adhering to the regulation of mass gatherings, the police would disperse that group and arrest the organisers of those events, Cele said.

“We are not going to be having a mass arrest. In restaurants, if they sell alcohol after six [pm], those patrons that are there will be dispersed. But the organiser or owner, because you would have broken the law will then be arrested,” Cele said.

Those arrested for failing to adhere to the regulation could be imprisoned for six months, or fined or punished with both, Cele said.

Cele said “alcohol” or “liquor itself causes a lot of crime” and so these regulations meant to deal with the outbreak of the coronavirus would impact positively on police’s efforts to fight crime.

The minister said police research showed rape victims reporting in the Nanda Police precinct in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal – which has the highest reported cases of rape – report cases after coming from a tavern “and everybody that [is] raped is from the tavern”.

“You pick up many dead bodies around shebeens come three o’clock in the morning, come two o’clock, four o’clock in the morning, so, if these shebeens are shutdown at six, it’s a coronavirus war, against it, but also impacts positively in terms of dealing with the crime situation,” the minister said.

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