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Booze sellers to face the music
31/01/2007 13:33 - (SA)
Johannesburg - In a major crackdown on alcohol abuse, liquor outlet owners in the Eastern Cape who sell booze to drunken patrons could be held liable if drunken customers cause harm to others, Dispatch Online reported on Wednesday.
Bingeing boozers also face being monitored when they are out on the town - even totally banned from the province's pubs and taverns.
These tough new recommendations made to the provincial Liquor Board are aimed at halting the bad effects of alcohol in the province.
They follow a study called the socio-economic impact of the liquor industry in the Eastern Cape, by the Pretoria-based company Eco-Mine. It was commissioned by the provincial Liquor Board last year.
Researchers found that, contrary to the belief that the impoverished Eastern Cape consumes far less than national averages, consumption was in line with national figures, if not slightly higher.
A staggering 900 million litres of alcohol are sold in the province each year. This translates to every adult gulping down over 220 litres of liquor a year, compared to the national average of 200 litres.
At the time the report was compiled last year, 25 244 liquor outlets - only 16% of them with permanent licences - were operating in the Eastern Cape.
The report recommends limiting the number of outlets and cutting down on hours and days that alcohol can be sold.
It also recommended empowering municipalities to enforce liquor trading hours and crack down on outlets that sell liquor to under-age customers. Such a crackdown could bring down crime.
- SAPA
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