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STATE OF LAWLESSNESS FEARS ON BOOZE SILENCE

05/09/2020 09:02:00 By Bonsile Makhubu

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MBABANE – Government’s silence on the ban on alcohol has raised fears that the country could be in a state of lawlessness.

Several legal experts who were interviewed by this publication have expressed concern on the silence, stating that something should have been at least said or done.

The ban on manufacturing, distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages in the country was announced by Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini and he said it was with effect from June 30, 2020.

In his announcement, the PM said the ban would be in place for a period not exceeding two months, to allow people to follow COVID-19 regulations in a bid to combat the pandemic that hit the country in March this year.

Elapsed

If two months were to be calculated from the PM’s latest announcement on alcohol, it would mean the ban elapsed at the end of August 2020.

This is one reason people were of the impression that government would issue another instruction regarding the direction that should be taken.

Also, when the premier announced the King’s declaration of a national lockdown on March 27, 2020, he stated that it would be over a period of two months.

When two months was about to elapse, the premier issued another notice extending the national lockdown, hence the general expectation that the same route would be taken relating to the alcohol ban.

Regulations

Human Rights Attorney Thulani Maseko said such announcements were not a law, but they were made based on certain laws which in this case could be the COVID-19 regulations through the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).

When asked what should have happened at the end of the two-month ban, Maseko said there should have been a form of communication similar to that of the ban announcement.

He was asked if it would not be an option for alcohol dealers to resume business, Maseko said there was a possibility that they could be arrested if they did so without a formal announcement.

Effect

Maseko was asked if there was a specific law that could be used to effect an arrest on people who resumed business based on the elapse of the two-month ban, he responded by saying; “The prevailing situation allows a state of lawlessness because even government seems to be ignorant of the law in this case.”

He said there has to be an instrument either extending or cancelling the ban just like the ban came through an instrument which was an announcement.

Maseko said the best thing that alcohol stakeholders could do would be to go to court to seek an order either compelling government to make a pronouncement or to grant an order setting aside the ban.

A law student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said according to his understanding the ban has automatically been lifted as the period which the ban was implemented for has expired.

He said in the absence of an instrument of extension, the ban simply elapses.

“The PM’s pronouncement had a specific time frame, which means the ban cannot automatically go beyond that time frame. After the elapse of that period the ban cannot, by law, automatically renew itself,’ he said, stating that this was as far as statutes were interpreted.

Another Human Rights Lawyer, Sipho Gumede said, “The ban cannot just elapse automatically. There has to be an instrument that unbans the sale of alcohol.”

Disappear

Gumede said regulations, just like laws, did not simply disappear but they have to be annulled.

The prolonged ban has sparked debate in various platforms, including customers, some of whom have shared different interpretations of the PM’s statement.

Others have alleged that the two months that the PM was talking about was to be constituted by working days only, which means it was going to elapse in a week’s time.

In neighbouring South Africa the manufacturing, distribution and sale of alcohol has resumed, following a ban of almost four months in total.

The recent resumption of business came last month when the country further eased its lockdown on reasons that there was an improvement in the COvid-19 situation as new infections became lower and the recovery rate increased.