THERE has been strong objection to a liquor store being opened less than 100 metres from a school and religious institutions in Fairbreeze, Tongaat.
This comes after a notice calling for objections to the application for a liquor store to be opened in Greylands Road was put out last week in the community.
A staff member at Fairbreeze Combined School, who declined to be named, said they were against the opening of the bottle-store, especially in such close proximity to the school.
The school, which has 1392 pupils, caters to pupils from Grades R to 12.
“We will not allow our pupils, especially our babies, to be exposed to any harm that may arise from the store being so close to the school. Many of our children walk to and from school in the mornings and afternoons. They would be exposed to people possibly drinking alcohol outside the store or on the roadsides. Furthermore, the store is less than 100 metres from the school’s back entrance, which is mainly used by the primary school pupils.
“There is also the worry of the older children, falling into temptation or peer pressure. Children will become more vulnerable. It is frustrating as we had just managed to address the issue of drugs being sold to children. We just completed erecting a fence around the school. We had only a palisade fence before, which made it easy for the merchants to pass drugs into the school, but that has since stopped.
“We will be submitting our objections to the relevant authorities and are urging parents and the community at large to stand with us and say no to the liquor store being opened so close to the school. We need to protect our children from social-ills.”
Moulana Yusuf Gaffar, of the Habibiya Soofie Masjid, said they would also object to the store being opened.
He said on the premises was also a madressa.
“We have 42 children who come to the madressa for classes every afternoon. We were quite concerned when we heard that there were plans to open the store, which would be on the opposite side of the road to our premises.
“We fear the impact as people who consume alcohol and linger around the area, may interfere with the children that attend the nearby school or madressa. It is known that some people are negatively affected after consuming alcohol and lose their senses resulting in them acting irresponsibly. We will therefore be objecting for these, and other reasons,” he said.
Pastor Silvanus Michael, of the Hebron House of Prayer, said they had worked towards keeping the youth away from the social-ills such as substance abuse.
“Now, they are proposing a liquor store on our doorsteps. Just like drugs, alcohol will also become easily accessible and this will have grave consequences for the children.
“But, we will not allow that to happen and intend on objecting. I encourage the community to also take a stand and object so that we can protect our children and prevent them from ruining their lives and future,” he said.
The KwaZulu-Natal Liquor Authority had not commented at the time of publication.