The National Liquor Traders Council has raised concerns that thousands of jobs could be at risk if the Constitutional Court rules in favour of the DG Murray Trust in its challenge against the Northern Cape’s extended liquor trading hours.
The trust is challenging provisions of the Northern Cape Gambling and Liquor Act of 2024, which allows taverns to trade until 2 am and nightclubs until 6 am.
The organisation wants establishments selling alcohol for on-site consumption to close at midnight, while bottle stores would be barred from selling alcohol on Sundays.
National Liquor Traders Convenor Lucky Ntimane says, “We do not believe that this is just a Northern Cape issue, but if you look at the tavern sector specifically, which runs at about 42-thousand taverns across the country, with employment of about 250-thousand people, on an average of about three to five people employed by a tavern, it means that people are going to lose their ability to earn an income because the trading hours that they talk to, the midnight, the late hours, that’s when we make good revenue for our businesses.”