Pretoria - Residents of Seshego in Limpopo have welcomed the Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) liquor policy proposals.
At a consultation session on the draft National Liquor Policy, on Thursday, the residents said the enforcement of the law regarding the trade and consumption of liquor needs to be intensified.
The aim of the consultation session was to get public comments on the Draft National Liquor Policy Review document, as published for public comments by the Minister Rob Davies on 20 May 2015.
Under the proposed new policy, the legal drinking age would be raised from 18 to 21 years. In addition, the department has also called for stricter controls when it comes to selling and buying alcohol.
Concerned mother Maria Modila added that it was time to seriously implement these policies and penalise people who do not adhere to them. Modila emphasised that doing this, would help to curb the crime and violence caused by liquor abuse in communities which remained a huge challenge.
Meanwhile, Constance Ramoroka, who is also a concerned citizen, highlighted that the proposal of liquor premises to be located at least 500 meters away from schools, places of worship, recreation facilities, rehabilitation or treatment centres, residential areas and public institutions was welcomed.
According to the Director of Policy and Legislation at the dti, Clementine Makaepea, research done by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) in 2008 indicates that South Africa remains number two in terms consuming pure alcohol amongst the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
This, she said, was a sign enough for government and communities to pull all stops to address this challenge. She said this was the basis of the proposed interventions in the liquor policy.
“The liquor policy can address the socio-economic costs and harms associated with liquor abuse and the slow pace of transformation in the liquor industry.
“It can also deal with issues of standardisation of key aspects of regulation and improved regulatory collaboration, illegal liquor manufacturing and trading and capacity and enforcement constraints within the National Liquor Authority,” said Makaepea. – SAnews.gov.za
