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Between October 2023 and 9 January 2024, local law enforcement staff confiscated 17,689 bottles of booze from Cape Town beaches and other public facilities.

During the same period the year before, officers confiscated 21,907 bottles.

While this confiscation rate is still alarmingly high, year-on-year, there has been a 20% reduction in the number of bottles of alcohol that staff confiscated over the festive period. We celebrate small wins in South Africa.

Kalk Bay, Muizenberg, Fish Hoek, Hout Bay, Camps Bay, Clifton and Maiden’s Cove accounted for 40% of all confiscations (7,140 bottles), while the New Year’s long weekend proved to be the busiest, with more than 4,000 bottles brought in by the police then.

Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith, said that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the decline, and can only “hope that it is a sign of things to come in future”.

He said that law enforcement will never be able to confiscate every bit of alcohol brought to a public space or have a list of definitive reasons for trends, but “we do have some anecdotal evidence from our staff’s interactions with the public”:

Among the reasons for bringing less booze to the beach this year, he said, some rather opted to set up inflatable pools at home, and party there instead of heading out, while others cited financial reasons, or just leaving the alcohol at home for later.

 “As with all things, there’ll always be those looking for ways to outwit our staff, but we quickly cotton on to their tricks. And to those who are able to make a day of it without alcohol, we thank you for taking accountability for your own actions, and the safety of others, and for easing the load on our enforcement and emergency services staff,” he said.

The City’s by-laws prohibit the introduction and consumption of alcohol in public spaces, including parks, beaches and swimming pools. Anybody who is found contravening the law is issued with a R500 fine.

The city’s impoundment policy stipulates that confiscated alcohol is tagged, stored, and, if unclaimed, destroyed after three months. Individuals have the option to reclaim their impounded alcohol upon payment of the fine and an impoundment release fee amounting to R748.

[source:capetowngov]