Cape Town - After fierce opposition from Sea Point, Fresnaye and Bantry Bay residents lobbying against a liquor licence application for a Pick n Pay Express convenience store at the BP garage in Regent Road, the Western Cape Liquor Authority’s (WCLA) liquor licensing tribunal has refused to grant the licence.
The application for an off-site consumption was received in September last year, much to the dismay of opposing residents who cited its proximity to a school, old-age care, religious facilities and tourist and transport hubs.
The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance had previously called on all provincial liquor authorities to implement an immediate moratorium on the awarding of all such licences to petrol stations, saying this, among other reasons, ignored the fact that South Africa already had one of the highest car crash rates in the world, 58% of which were alcohol-related.
South Africans Against Drunk Driving (SADD) founder and director Caro Smit, who also opposed the application, said alcohol was readily and easily available in South Africa.
“There are a whole lot of outlets to buy alcohol. We now have a huge problem with alcohol abuse in South Africa and a drunk driving problem. So we certainly feel that to be allowed to sell alcohol at a petrol station is sending out a completely wrong message.
“This is especially because our South African public are not people who follow the rules very well. The fact that the petrol station says that people can take the alcohol home and drink it at home. We are seeing more and more people who are driving and drinking openly and we don’t need more deaths or temptations,” she said.
Smit said they were hopeful that this would discourage other petrol stations from applying for liquor licences.
“We are very pleased with the Western Cape Liquor Authority taking this decision. We hope that they will not bend to any pressure and roll this out to the whole of the province, even when the applicant appeals,” she said.
WCLA communication, education, and stakeholder relations manager Rebecca Campbell said the Western Cape Liquor Act required the tribunal to be satisfied – on a balance of probabilities – that the granting of a liquor licence was in the public interest.
“Campbell said the tribunal also sets out criteria to be considered before a licence was granted, including proximity of proposed licensed premises to a service station selling petrol.”
She said in the instance of the application for BP in Sea Point, a process was followed and objections, comments and input received were provided to the applicant.
Campbell said over the past year, a considerable number of licence applications associated with petrol stations were received. After a broader public participation process which saw more than 300 comments from the public, to date, all of the liquor licence applications on petrol stations lodged since November 2020 had been refused.
While the applicant was approached for comment but could not respond by the time of publication, the WCLA said unsuccessful applicants had the right to lodge appeals against the licensing tribunal decision.