Demarcating provincial and local powers regarding liquor retail
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Date
2004
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Unisa Press
Abstract
Local government’s newly acquired status as a fully-fledged sphere of
government with constitutionally protected powers is slowly gaining momentum.
Now that the dust is slowly settling around the demarcation and establishment
of local government institutions, the demarcation of local government powers visà-
vis other spheres of government is fast becoming a critical area of academic
research and intergovernmental dialogue. As they become aware of their
constitutional scope, municipalities will start asserting their institutional integrity
with powerful metropolitan municipalities taking the lead.
In an earlier article in this journal, the approach to local government powers
as set out in the Constitution was outlined.1 This article takes the matter further
and presents a case study on the demarcation of local government powers in
one specific area, namely the regulation of the liquor retail industry.
In the Liquor Bill judgment of 2000 more clarity was provided about national
versus provincial powers regarding the liquor retail industry.2 Another important
issue is the division between provincial and local powers. Schedule 5A of the
Constitution lists ‘Liquor licences’ as a provincial competency. Schedule 5B of
the Constitution lists ‘Control of undertakings that sell liquor to the public’ as a
local government competency. This apparent overlap in the constitutional regime
on provincial and local legislative powers over liquor retail matters raises two
demarcation issues. The first demarcation issue is: what is the difference between
‘Liquor licences’ (a provincial competency) and ‘Control of undertakings that sell
liquor to the public’ (a local government competency)? This question will be dealt
with in sections 2 and 3 of this article.
Description
Keywords
Demarcating, Provincial government, Local government, Liquor retail, Law, South Africa, Liquor Bill judgment of 2000
Citation
de Visser, J. (2004). Demarcating provincial and local powers governing regarding liquor retail. SA Public Law, 9(2): 335-377