Africa-Press – Botswana. Local drinkers could see the good times flow for even longer if Minister of Trade and Industry, Mmusi Kgafela’s recent comments are anything to go by.
Kgafela has challenged Batswana to an open debate regarding the liquor industry’s regulated operating times.
Speaking during a panel discussion at Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB)’s annual conference in Maun on Friday, the minister admitted he does not see sense why alcohol outlets are restricted by limited operating hours while others are free to operate anytime of the day.
“We need to have a conversation regarding whether it is necessary to require that alcohol outlets be closed. As Ministry of Trade, we work under industrial development, we have trade act, we have liquor act, under which we license people and I have tried to see if we have times of closures for others, no we don’t. So I tried to find out why Batswana, when it comes to alcohol, decided that there’s got to be a set time for closure!” stated Kgafela, to the amusement of his audience.
Continuing along his unexpected musings, the minister added, “I don’t know, I don’t know, but it could be for moral reasons, or keeping people from the streets because we are a culture of people who at certain hours, streets are empty and we are asleep. In other jurisdictions, it is not the case; people are milling the streets 24/7.”
Currently, in Botswana, bars operate from 12 noon until 10 at night from Monday to Thursdays, but are allowed to stay open for an extra two hours from Friday to Sunday.
Nightclubs operate from 1900hrs until 0400hrs on Fridays and Saturdays, while they have a midnight curfew for the rest of the week.
Liquor stores, meanwhile, can sell between 1030 and 1930hrs every day apart from Sunday and public holidays, when they have to close.
Hotels and lodges are exempted from such time limits.
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