Johannesburg - A sixth-month moratorium on the issuing of new liquor licences in Gauteng still stands, economic development MEC Qedani Mahlangu said on Tuesday.
It will be lifted only in respect of occasional and catering permits from Thursday November 17, she told reporters in Johannesburg.
She said stringent measures had been introduced to curb the issuing of fraudulent licences.
The moratorium took effect in August to allow the department to improve its efficiency, and to solve problems relating to the liquor licensing process.
These included the issuing of fraudulent documents.
Mahlangu said the moratorium had not been without problems. Its validity was challenged in court, but the ruling was favour of the department.
She said her department was about halfway through dealing with a backlog of about 2 450 applications.
In addition, a new IT and business processing system had been designed to handle applications and would be in place for occasional and catering permits from Thursday.
"Stringent measures have been introduced to curb the issuing of fraudulent licences (and) to date we are confident that no fraudulent licences have been issued," Mahlangu said.
She said liquor licence renewals for 2011/12 would begin on December 1.