Botswana brewers oppose planned liquor venue banBy MTOKOZISI DUBE in Gaborone | Thursday, May 17   2012 at  14:46

An association of Botswana brewers will soon engage the government over imminent traditional beer regulation that comes into effect in July.

The new legislation, which has been opposed, would bar the sale of traditional liquor from homesteads.

Traditional beer sellers and opposition politicians argue that there has been lack of proper consultation by government.

The Shebeen Association of Botswana (Shabo) has begun countrywide tours in an effort to recruit more members and voice their concerns over the Act.

Shabo’s publicity secretary Raoboy Mpuang said: “We are not at war with the government. All we want to do is to sit down with the Minister of Trade and Industry and discuss challenges that will be presented by these regulations such as the issues of relocation.”

Mr Mpuang said barely two months before the act comes into effect “shebeen operators are still in the dark as to where they will be relocated and that remains our major concern.”

He added that their intention is not to undermine or overlook the traditional beer regulations, but to try and help government enforce traditional beer regulations, which will leave all parties happy by creating a win-win situation for all.

The proposed law recommends stern action against brewers of harmful brews.

Shebeen operators say that they will lose customers and consequently their livelihood, while supporters of the law applaud it for saving children from growing up in rowdy and unsafe households.