Editor – I am a resident of Ezakheni and I want to, with absolute anger, say that this place is filled with illegal taverns and shebeens that cause major disruption in my area. In writing this letter, I want law enforcement to realise the problems we go through with all these shebeens around us.
Firstly, I want to talk about the noise levels. It is so frustrating and disturbing for people like me, who wake up for work very early, to have to deal with the noise people and sound systems make. It’s really annoying because we have to put up with this every day, and it gets worse on weekends.
Another thing is that once people have had one too many, fighting occurs. It gets so bad that people stab each other and sometimes even shoot one another. This, to me, has got to be one of the worst things we face. We’ve had instances where people who don’t even go into these shebeens have been wounded by stray bullets.
Our properties get damaged and the streets are always filled with broken glass.
We have children and we don’t want them growing up in these conditions, believing that drinking and partying in these dangerous facilities is “cool”.
We all know that our youth are fascinated by this culture of partying all night long.
I acknowledge the fact that we can’t really stop them from wanting to have a good time and, as the community, approaching tavern owners about this matter often turns to violence.
Another thing that irritates me is that these same tavern owners do not abide by the law. They would sell a whole tray of alcohol to a 10-year-old, so long as they get the money.
Can somebody please investigate this matter and shut down all the taverns with no valid documents. Not only will I benefit from it, it would also help other concerned members of this community and bring justice that has been ignored.
Our lives matter and our children’s lives matter, so let’s not allow these shebeens to destroy any more lives.
