Illegal Homebrew Sale Troubles Central District
Pini Bothoko | Monday February 8, 2021 22:54
Serowe Police Station commander, superintendent Poloko Oteng told The Monitor that a majority of alcohol imbibers have since resorted to traditional brews after being denied their poison of choice. Mushrooming of shebeens with the sale of traditional beers has been a problem in the Central District since the country’s first alcohol ban last year.
Oteng said Khadi and Mnanti are at the top of the list of traditional brews threatening the lives of Batswana craving alcohol in his policing area.
“The ban on alcohol has pushed imbibers to turn to homebrewing to get around the prohibition. Last week alone we recorded eight cases of traditional brews. Police in Serowe are working around the clock to put a stop to the illegal sale of traditional beer in some homesteads but the mushrooming of sheebeens persists keeping the police on their toes,” he said.
The police boss told The Monitor to have also observed a growing trend in the migration of booze lovers to the cattle posts and lands (Masimo) to enjoy homebrewed alcohol. He stated that it appears that some popular shebeen owners around the village have moved their businesses to the cattle posts and masimo.
He said luckily through tip-offs from members of the community in some instances police caught shebeen operators red-handed selling traditional beer with drinkers busy enjoying their beer of choice disobeying the coronavirus (COVID-19) protocols. Oteng added that shebeen operators and drinkers were charged fines between P1,000 and P5,000 as an admission of guilt.
“The fact that the offenders admit to the offence during the arrests shows that people are aware of the regulations. Some drinkers were charged for breaking curfew after they were caught walking from the shebeen. A majority of shebeen operators are women whilst drinkers are men,” he said.
He cautioned drinkers to refrain from disobeying the alcohol ban stating that by doing so they are in the process putting their lives at risk of contracting the virus because they have observed that they do not obey COVID-19 protocols. He stated that shebeen operators do not keep records, nor do they record temperatures something that could be helpful during contact tracing.
He said in some past offences, similar cases were taken to the customary courts and offenders received strokes while some cases are still ongoing. Last May, a total of 57 cases were recorded in Serowe, Palapye, Maunatlala, Lerala and Serule with the popular traditional beers being Setopoti, Khadi and Mnanti.