SAPS pounces on ‘defiant’ local liquor trader
"We will go after everyone who breaks the law, regardless of who they are and what their standing in society is."
An Endumeni liquor outlet owner, who was busted for allegedly selling alcohol despite stringent lockdown regulations, has had his entire stock confiscated by the police.
SAPS officials also seized CCTV footage devices, a cash register and point of sale equipment, and have placed the premises under indefinite lockdown.
Acting on a tip-off by a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature (MPL), KZN MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA), Nomusa Dube-Ncube and members of both the KZN Liquor Authority and SAPS visited the premises and found it operating. Prior to the visit, the MPL had already opened a case with local police but found little joy, prompting him to engage the services of the department.
Evidence of transgression has been brought before the local police and the KZN Liquor Authority.
A SAPS advocate at the site ordered the removal of the equipment, confiscation of the alcohol and the total shutdown of the premises, pending further investigations. The MEC said it was shocking that business owners could blatantly disregard the laws and lockdown regulations.
“We are investigating the allegations that this place has been selling liquor during this time. We are here with the police and the [KZN] Liquor Authority, to establish the veracity of these serious allegations,” stated the MEC.
Dube-Ncube also visited supermarkets to check on reports of ‘price gouging’. She was reportedly dissatisfied with the amount of essential food items on the shelves, and was also unhappy that one ‘big retailer’ kept damaged cans of beans and tinned fish on the shelves, saying this was a huge health hazard before ordering such damaged items removed.
“It’s shocking. We want to say to all the South African citizens and KZN residents that we are going to make sure law enforcement is going to take its course, to those who do not adhere to the regulations as prescribed by the President [Cyril Ramaphosa]. The president is serious about protecting our citizens against the coronavirus,” she said.
Dube-Ncube said EDTEA would continue to ensure enforcement during the lockdown is heightened, and stated there would be no ‘sacred cows’.
“We will go after everyone who breaks the law, regardless of who they are and what their standing in society is. There are no sacred cows. I wish to applaud our entity, the Endumeni Mayor [Sduduzo Mdluli] and the police on their swift reaction to this. Working together, we will flatten the curve and defeat the coronavirus,” she said.
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