Imagine that someone comes into town with the intention of opening a restaurant, surveys the neighbourhoods, and chooses to acquire a property that is not zoned for commercial use, has small amount of space under a questionable “grandfathered” non-conforming use permit to be used only as a shop, not a cafe, and has limited space for tables for patrons.
Would it be prudent to buy the premises for use as a restaurant? No—unless you have no intention of complying with any applicable laws.
Would you want such a restaurant in your neighbourhood? Probably not, and even less so if you knew they were going to impermissibly block sidewalks and even the street with chairs and tables, serve liquor without a license, stay open late enough to disturb adjacent residents with noise and smoke, and otherwise demonstrate a wilful disregard for all applicable laws that shows their distain for the rule of law, for common courtesy, and for the capacity of the municipal government to perform even modest regulatory functions .
That’s not something I would want in my neighbourhood.
But this sort of thing happens all over the Mother City, and the national business licensing law doesn’t even enable the City to shut down violators. That fact alone should elicit some head scratching. You must have a license to serve food to the public, but if you don’t bother to get one, the City is unable (and evidently unwilling) to close you down.
Is this a recent development or the result of an interdict or other glitch? No, this has been the case since the Business Licensing Act was passed—in 1991.
The municipality seems to think that its main role is to request politely that such premises obtain a license but to ignore them if they don’t. They can and sometimes do issue a citation for violation which, when it gets to court six months from now, will lead to a fine so small that you can easily pay it with less cash than the profit from a slow afternoon of slinging pizzas or selling green olives or booze illegally. You can even cheat SARS because the City doesn’t check that.
What can explain such colossal dysfunction? We can only speculate, but ignorance of the law is no excuse. Incompetence is a likely factor, as well as corruption, laziness, misunderstanding of sound public policy, and lack of enforcement capacity, although this last one could fund itself with the proceeds from fines. There are many ways to skin this cat, but no municipal interest in doing so. None.
Whichever cause you pick, it is still astonishing that this state of affairs can continue without causing elected and appointed officials to blush redder than that towering light atop the Sky Hotel that is scorching eyeballs across the City Bowl and beyond.
May we all enjoy a Festive Season filled with beloved local traditions such as impunity and torpor! It’s nice that in times of great change, there are some eternal things we can count on.