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ccording to the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa’s (FEDHASA) CEO, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, the proposed Draft Liquor Amendment Bill of 2016 is set to complicate South Africa’s already complex liquor regulatory environment with more than 40 national and provincial liquor-related policies and regulations. “There is currently a confusing and fragmented proliferation of legislation which raises significant challenges and difficulties in effectively regulating the liquor trade in South Africa,” he said. “Instead of addressing this, the proposed Amendment Bill fosters even more issues.”
A call for a standardised approach to liquor licensing and liquor trading FEDHASA represents the interests of more than 10 000 direct and associate members in the South African hospitality industry including hotels, B&Bs, guest houses, game lodges, restaurants, pubs, taverns, shebeens, conference centres, and casinos. In its submission to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), FEDHASA has called
Small business owners are left feeling stranded
on the director-general to persuade provincial governments to adopt a standardised, pragmatic approach to all aspects of liquor licensing and liquor trading in South Africa. “What would make sense,” Tshifhiwa points out, “is that the DTI works towards a single national liquor act, a single provincial liquor act and a single bylaw that provides for the trading days and hours of on and off-consumption liquor licensed establishment,s which can be enforced by all local municipalities.” However, it is not just the possibility of a promulgation of yet another piece of liquor-related regulation that concerns FEDHASA. “Unfortunately, the draft legislation has also not been subjected to economic impact assessment,” says Tshifhiwa. “If this law comes into effect, several of the proposed amendments will have detrimental impacts on the many stable, good businesses that are making an important contribution to our economy. Some of the amendments will be all but impossible to regulate, thus placing an extraordinary burden on the administrators responsible for controlling the liquor trade in South Africa.”
