Western Cape liquor Bill ready soon

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It will put a stop to liquor trading in residential areas and limit the times during which shops, taverns and eateries can sell booze.

The Bill was gazetted in English on Friday, 16 Ocotber 2009, and will be gazetted in Afrikaans and Xhosa today, 20 October.

“We have decided on a five-week public comment period so that all language groups have sufficient time to look over it,” Western Cape Finance, Tourism and Economic Development MEC Alan Winde said yesterday.

But this was not an invitation to again discuss the so-called shebeen clause. “That is done and dusted.”

The provincial government, he said, had taken a principled position “that we will not make any legislative accommodation for people to sell liquor next to their neighbours”.

The government was mindful of the concerns of informal traders that they would lose jobs.

Winde said while the shebeen clause would not be reinserted, the executive council had already started looking into the creation of commercial trading areas in townships.

Source: The Herald

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