Police vow to clamp down on illegal, non-complaint liquor outlets
Police Minister Bheki Cele has sent out a stern warning to illegal and non-compliant liquor outlets ahead of the festive season.
Cele addressed the media at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Wednesday as part of the police’s festive season safety campaign.
Excessive alcohol consumption has been singled out as a major contributing factor to the country’s high murder rate.
In an interview with SABC, Cele said provincial authorities in Limpopo have been instructed to close all illegal liquor outlets over the next 48 hours.
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“Why do you have only 42 churches in the province and 14 000 liquor outlets? And I think there is about some 4000 tarverns and 10 000 liquour outlets, that tells you we have a problem.
“When you look at the patterns of murder, it also tells you so because most people die on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, even Monday in early hours.”
He warned that police will also target legal outlets for possible non-compliance.
“And those that are legal must comply. For instance if you go to any of them and you find an under 18 that is a non-compliance.
“If they make noise when people are sleeping and they don’t close when the time comes, that is a non-compliance and those that non-comply must be shut down.”
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