NATIONAL NEWS - Government has decreed that all establishments that sell alcohol will have to close at 6pm each day, and at 1pm on Sundays and public holidays. They can only open again at 9am.
Liquor stores will have to keep the same hours. The rules have come into effect as part of the Disaster Management Act.
This means most restaurants and hotels, and all pubs, bars, clubs, taverns and shebeens will be affected, and they have been barred from having more than 50 patrons at a time, or be shut down.
The granting of liquor licences has been halted too for events.
Community safety MEC Faith Mazibuko had earlier said Gauteng would clamp down on all-night drinking sprees in shebeens and taverns to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but the new rules apply countrywide.
To help curb the spread of the coronavirus, Mazibuko targeted alcohol-selling spots and said the distribution and sale of alcohol on weekdays would from now on be curtailed.
“Police just deal with enforcement and people must comply with their licences. They have been engaging all the tavern owners and they’ve agreed that those that serve liquor, whether in a shebeen or a tavern, they must make sure that they must not exceed the number of 50 patrons at a serving time. And they have agreed that the distribution and consumption of liquor or alcohol on a weekday shall be ended at 6pm."
