Yesterday the controversial Western Cape Liquor Amendment Bill was to have been fully gazetted, and be enforceable, but this has been held back, due to threatened legal action.
The Liquor Trading Days and Hours By-Law has attracted the wrath of the members of the newly-formed Club, Bar and Restaurant Association of the Western Cape, who contributed money to a legal fund to fight the By-Law by means of an interdict, reports the Cape Times. The association is looking to get 100 members on board, to have a large enough legal resource of about R1 million to “put these guys to bed”, said Shaan Nordien of the Chrome Club, and has invited restaurants and hotels to join them in their fight. The first step will be to apply for an interdict from the court, whereafter the association will challenge the constitutionality of the By-Law, says the association’s legal advisor Zeeshan Nordien. An interesting development, demonstrating the seriousness of the association members, is the appointment of specialist liquor lawyer Danie Cronje of Cluver Markotter, with Jan Heunis as the advocate, reports the Cape Times. They have sent a letter with their grievances to the City of Cape Town, which it has decided to study first before going ahead with gazetting the By-Law. A protest march has not been excluded.
The Association is claiming that up to 150000 jobs could be lost due to the potential loss of business caused by the new Liquor Trading By-law, reports The Times.
A potential new change to the By-Law could be a “cooling off period” for drinkers, which would allow establishments such as pubs, bars and restaurants selling alcohol to allow their patrons to stay on at the establishment, serving them coffee, but disallowing the sale of alcohol, after 2h00, so that the drinkers are in a fitter state to drive home, reports the Cape Argus. JP Smith, the City of Cape Town Councillor and Mayco member for Safety and Security, said: “This would mean that patrons’ liquor consumption stops some time before they leave the establishment – and that would be good”. Smith has warned the rebelling club and bar owners that the new By-Law will be implemented across the board, and accused them of ‘profiteering off liquor abuse”, the newspaper reports. “We have always known that people who profiteer off the sale of liquor will not want to give that up. But we will sit it out, because of how important this is. Those that protest about the new trading hours are not the ones paying the hospitals, or the ambulances, or the emergency services. They’re not the ones having to pick up the pieces that result from alcohol abuse. They’re looking at their profits”, he added.
Smith said that the City would target the establishments receiving the most complaints in terms of noise level and fighting. The By-Law will rely on customer complaints for its implementation to be effective.
POSTSCRIPT 1/7: The Cape Times has reported that the Liquor by-law has been reviewed by a ‘constitutional expert, following the outcry from the hospitality industry prior to its introduction earlier this year. The review will lead to as yet undisclosed changes to the bylaw.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
Dineplan, a restaurant reservation system company, conducted a survey shortly after it was announced that Restaurants were allowed to open for Sit-Down Service from 30 June onwards. The survey interviewed diners to understand their willingness to eat out during the Corona Lockdown, to understand their expectations of restaurants, not only for Sit-Down Service, but also for Food Delivery and Collection. A relief for restaurants must be that only 1% of the respondents said that they would not eat out during Lockdown. Continue reading →
