Johannesburg - An end to Gauteng's moratorium on liquor licences will
be announced in March, economic development MEC Qedani Mahlangu said in
Johannesburg on Monday.
The exact date of the end of the moratorium was
expected to be disclosed on Sunday. Liquor laws and trading times were
also to be tightened up, she said.
There was "no chance" of liquor sales being allowed outside restricted hours.
"I want people living in the townships next door to shebeens to have a quality of life," she told reporters.
The times of some venues selling alcohol would probably be restricted to after 14:00 and then cut short in the evening.
"People living in the suburbs would never put up with
what people in the townships have to put with," she said, referring to
the noisy and drunken behaviour at shebeens.
The MEC said she would not be pushed into allowing big
retail groups to dominate the liquor market at the expense of small
bottle stores.
"The small guy employs eight people, the big guy uses
existing staff," she said. Keeping and creating jobs in the industry was
paramount.
Mahlangu said that in Sandton City an established
liquor store's lease renewal had been refused because a major retailer
wanted the sole licence in the centre.
"The big guy will not be allowed to bully the little guy," she said.