High Court ruling favours liquor traders associations

Polokwane

The High Court of South Africa in Polokwane has ruled in favour of Sekhukhune Liquor Traders Association and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), following the court interdict of the two parties against the new Limpopo Liquor Act imposed by the Limpopo Economic Development, Environment and Tourism in Limpopo (LEDET), since 1 August 2023.

The much-anticipated ruling was handed-down by Judge Gerrit Mueller on Monday 4 September, stating that liquor outlets traders in the province can still operate their businesses until 2am from licenses acquired under the previous liquor act.

The new regulations were preventing the sale of liquor in all outlets after mid-night.

Following the announcement of the new act, concerned stakeholders, such as the National Liquor Traders, Drinks Federation of SA, Sekhukhune Liquor Traders, artists and their representatives, disputed the implementation of the regulations, citing that it hit hard on their businesses and exacerbate the high rate of unemployment in the province.

Sekhukhune Liquor Traders Chairperson, Lipi Legodi, said they are happy about the high court ruling.

“We are happy that the court has ruled in our favour. We fought for our rights as liquor traders and finally it paid off. Clearly government did not follow proper procedures when implementing the new regulations,” he said.

EFF Chairperson in the province, Tshilidzi Maraga, said the party welcomes the ruling, saying that the court has nullified the unjust Limpopo Liquor Act, which threatened the economy of the province and the livelihoods of the people.

“The EFF thanks the Polokwane High Court for understanding the economic contributions made by the liquor outlets. Through this court ruling, multiple jobs have been saved and it enables most families to continue putting bread on their tables. This court ruling enables breweries to keep their staff to improve liquor production leading to high sales,” explained Maraga.

She added that transportation trucks still have work to do by transporting liquor to different outlets that were targeted to suffocate.

“The Limpopo Liquor Board seemed to be stereotyped by concentrating only on crime forgetting that their decision to suffocate the liquor outlets was also suffocating the plant to produce more delivery trucks which could have caused job losses in the industry,” she said.

Maraga lambasted the government stating that it is incapable of creating jobs and wants to showcase their other skills of destroying the existing job opportunities.

“We as the EFF will always be on the side of the marginalized and the disadvantaged. We are committed to be the vanguard and the voice of the voiceless, and we say no to the destruction of our economy,” she said.