18 liquor sellers closed in KZN raids

Forty hotels, sports bars and taverns were raided between Thursday evening and Sunday morning in Port Shepstone, Margate, Port Edward and Umzinto, spokesman Bongani Lukhele said in a statement.

"The outlets were closed down and their owners fined because they did not adhere to the conditions of the liquor licences issued for their businesses," the department's liquor authority deputy director, Sandile Nkosi was quoted as saying.

Some were found to be merely selling alcohol when, according to their licence, they also had to be running a restaurant. Fines issued were between R500 and R3000.

In one case a bottle store owner was ordered to close his business until he had erected a fence around it, as children from a nearby primary school were found playing nearby.

Source: Sapa