Venues to cough up for extra ANC bash booze sales
Johannesburg - Alcohol-selling venues planning to extend their trading hours to cater for the ANC’s 105th anniversary this weekend will have to cough up thousands of rand to do so.
On Tuesday, the Gauteng Liquor Board announced extended liquor trading times at venues including hotels, restaurants, pubs, and clubs - to accommodate an influx of visitors expected in the province for the ANC’s January 8 celebrations this weekend.
Board chairperson Fhedzisani Pandelani said businesses could expect to pay R9 000 to extend their opening hours for the weekend.
Gauteng Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile’s spokesperson, Wisani Ngobeni, said the extended hours would be determined on a case-by-case basis and depend on which hours each business applied.
For example, a bar that usually closed at 02:00 could apply for an extended licence to allow it to stay open until as late as 04:00. No establishments would be allowed to continue selling liquor after 04:00.
The board said thousands of people were expected in the province to celebrate the ANC’s 105th anniversary.
“The event is expected to contribute positively to the economy of the province, especially in the areas of tourism and hospitality,” it said in a statement.
Maile said in the statement that he was satisfied with the temporary relaxing of trading hours.
Those businesses that qualified for extended hours would have to make a commitment to work with local law enforcement agencies, the board said.
