Botswana, Gaborone: The Ministry of Trade and Industry continues to solicit stakeholder views and ideas on the process of reviewing the Liquor Act 2003 and its Regulations as Assistant Minister Beauty Manake addressed a kgotla meeting in Shakawe yesterday.
The minister said that the Ministry, together with implementers at Local Authorities, identified challenges during the implementation of the current Liquor Act, among them the 500 meter distance requirement from a school, highway, major road or church for certain liquor businesses like bars, liquor depots, club liquor and discotheque/night club.
She said they have had many requests for exemption from the 500 meter requirement, and therefore, the law is basically implemented through exemptions.
Manake also said that noise pollution and continued non-compliance by liquor outlets and consumers are some of the challenges encountered. The Assistant Minister called on attendants to come up with ways of dealing with fronting as it is a serious concern.
For her part, the Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary of Trade, Seipati Olweny, shed some light on different licenses given under the Liquor Act. She highlighted that the bar license allows the consumption of alcohol within the premises and has to have a sitting area.
Olweny said that the bottle store license allows the selling of alcohol to be consumed outside premises, adding that those who have a restaurant license can sell liquor without having to apply for a liquor license.
Olweny also stated that restaurants and bars are not allowed to play loud music, only discotheque is allowed to play loud music. “There is an inspection before issuance of discotheque license to ensure that sound proof is installed to avoid noise pollution,” she added.
Residents supporting the government’s initiative and community were already disturbed because of the loud music problems. One of the locals said, “Nice Initiative, and asked, “Loud music go tewa jang??”.