OPINION: Good Business – Basics Govt reaping what it sowed in liquor trade

It was bemusing to hear Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, boom out in parliament recently about plans her ministry has to curtail the proliferation of taverns in township and rural areas.

This against the tragic backdrop of the recent loss of life in such establishments, in East London, Pietermaritzburg and Soweto.

One had to feel that the government was reaping what it had sown in its headlong rush to transform the liquor trade over the past 10 years or so.

Illegal ‘shebeens’ were licenced in droves, and given the flimsiest veneer of respectability by being called taverns.

Case in point: the settlement of Sweetwaters, where seven people were gunned down, was home to more than 140 taverns.

Meanwhile, the iron fist of the law and the reddest of red tape is brought to bear on suburban and city-based institutions when it comes to renewals and new applications.

Anyone who has been part of a liquor licensing process will testify to the complexity in detail required, particularly in terms of the physical layout and facilities of the operating premises, would have been amazed at some of the visuals of the premises at which these deaths occurred.

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It becomes inescapable to reach a conclusion that that the lives of patrons in these township taverns was far less important than those in the suburbs and city centres.

It is hard to escape the perception that operators in the metropolitan areas are ‘soft targets’ for enforcement and policing.

While enforcement of liquor licensing laws is the line function of the SA Police Service, the culpability of the Provincial Liquor Boards, with their highly paid directors and CEOs must be highlighted.

They must be forced to account for selectively ignoring rules and guidelines, either through corrupt enticements, or political pressure, for granting licences that did not meet the parameters of the law.

In the timeless tradition of ‘closing the stable door after the horse has bolted’, we see the politicians and officials scrambling to react.

Hence, the utterances by Minister Zulu today, and the reports that KZN Provincial Commissioner of Police, Lt. General Nhlanhla Mkwanazi had mooted the banning of the sale of alcohol in township and rural areas.

No doubt the Liquor Boards will also be thick on the ground with enforcement and inspection officials furiously finding ways to cover their backs, and finding others to blame.

And the innocent bystanders in all of this mayhem will be the deserving beneficiaries of licences or renewals, who will most likely have to shelve plans to expand or employ new labour as their applications gather dust in the Liquor Board offices.

Vijay Naidoo is the CEO of the Port Shepstone Business Forum. He writes in his personal capacity. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.

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