NTHA COLUMN
G IN T E E M L A R E N E G A H T N N & AWARENESS CAMPAIG
Stakeholders and members at the NTHA general meeting
T
he National Tourism and Hospitality Association (NTHA) held a general meeting with all of its stakeholders and members to share the festive season awareness campaign for safe and transparent business engagement with customers, and to follow all principles of liquor trading as per the code of conduct issued by NTHA in the process of obtaining a license. Everyone agreed that: • No children and persons under 18 will be allowed within the liquor entertainment area. • No liquor will be sold to uniformed members of the SAPS, traffic department, SANDF, nurses and teachers during school & office hours. • No smoking in public areas except in designated areas. • No liquor will be sold to intoxicated customers. • The areas of entertainment shall be safe and secure for all customers. • No loud and abusive music shall be played in disturbance of community peace. • All traders shall abide by strict liquor trading hours.
so that it doesn’t pose any danger to traders and their customers. The goal is to boost the image we are building as an association of positive business owners in the liquor industry that uses all the resources they have in their business to give back to the community. All the traders of NTHA are involved in the skills development project initiated in 2014, when NTHA developed another wing under its roll-out plans to create Ndofaya Hospitality Academy, which was fully accredited by Cathsseta in professional cookery and assistant chef skills programs in the NQF level 4 learnership, which has been fully funded by NTHA from the start. To date, we have managed to graduate more than 60 candidates.
In the past few years, and in collaboration with the Restaurants Association of South Africa (RASA) we managed to place these candidates in employment in different organisations such as Spur and Pick n Pay. Our main aim is to fight against the poverty and unemployment that is high in South Africa and to provide our entry-level candidates with opportunities in our industry. We are proud that we are not only just selling liquor, but also The reason for the reminder about providing for our community. Some of the code of conduct was to alert our these students are now trained in their traders to be safer during the festive workplaces and employed as mid- and season and to have total control of the entertainment they provide to customers junior-level managers. 4
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This is a tap on the shoulder to all our liquor traders who have made this possible and we are very proud of each of you. NTHA members were also given training that helped them to be more effective in their businesses, such as customer service skills programmes, basic first aid, basic firefighting, legal compliance and much more. This year, NTHA will be giving more to traders in terms of development and effective trading. SAPS' Captain Romothakhi Maqabe said, “We will be more than happy if we can establish an effective working relationship with liquor traders as this will have a positive impact in reducing crime around liquor entertainment areas. This collaboration will keep our customers safe and protect our children from exposure to drugs and alcohol.” The Community Police Forum (CPF) stated the safety practices they have and will also guard against unlicensed selling of alcohol to children in the play areas and sports grounds during events. Gauteng Liquor Board representative Arron Masinge said that the main focus is on compliance by members, noise management and to stick to the operational hours of the business.
