Magistrate: Change shebeen laws

2008-11-19 19:03

Cape Town - The Bellville Regional Court on Wednesday urged the swift implementation of new liquor laws which will rid the Western Cape of shebeens.

The sooner this happened, the better, magistrate Frans Botes said in acquitting shebeen reveller Bongani Kuze on a charge of murder.

Botes said Kuze was drinking with friends at a shebeen when a fight broke out.

Fellow reveller Eric Nkosi started the fight by attacking him. Kuze warded off his attacker with a broken bottle. Nkosi later died from a wound inflicted by the bottle.

Botes said details of the incident were unclear, as witnesses had given different versions, but all had agreed that Nkosi had been the aggressor which had entitled Kuze to act in self-defence.

Botes said many of the cases in his court involving violence had resulted from drunkenness and drug abuse at shebeens in the early hours.

"It is high time that the new laws come into operation, because shebeens need to be closed down altogether," he said.

- SAPA