---
title: "ConCourt weighs Northern Cape liquor hours law after public participation failure"
description: "The Constitutional Court has been called upon to confirm the invalidity of certain provisions in the Northern Cape Gambling and Liquor Act of 2024, after the provincial legislature failed to ensure meaningful public participation in legislation that extended liquor trading hours. The DG Murray Trust is urging the court to go further by affirming the government’s constitutional duty to protect fundamental rights and curb alcohol-related harm when passing laws regulating the trade of liquor."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "ALCOHOL TRADING"
author: "Tamsin Metelerkamp"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/tamsin-metelerkamp/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-11-11-concourt-weighs-northern-cape-liquor-hours-law-after-public-participation-failure/"
published: "2026-11-11T11:30:00"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 1650
---

# ConCourt weighs Northern Cape liquor hours law after public participation failure

> The Constitutional Court has been called upon to confirm the invalidity of certain provisions in the Northern Cape Gambling and Liquor Act of 2024, after the provincial legislature failed to ensure meaningful public participation in legislation that extended liquor trading hours. The DG Murray Trust is urging the court to go further by affirming the government’s constitutional duty to protect fundamental rights and curb alcohol-related harm when passing laws regulating the trade of liquor.

By Tamsin Metelerkamp · Published 11 November 2026, 13:30 SAST

## Key points
- The Constitutional Court is weighing whether to confirm the invalidity of Northern Cape liquor laws passed without meaningful public participation.
- The legislation allowed taverns to trade until 2am, nightclubs until 6am and shops to sell alcohol on Sundays.
- The DG Murray Trust wants the court to affirm government’s duty to protect dignity, safety, health and children from alcohol-related harm.
- Experts link extended trading hours to violence, injuries and pressure on healthcare services, while the legislature accepts that the lawmaking process must be fixed.

## Content

In a case before the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, 10 November, justices were called upon not only to confirm the invalidity of certain provisions of the Northern Cape Gambling and Liquor Act of 2024, but also to consider a constitutional rights challenge seeking to clarify the government’s duty to protect people, including children, from alcohol-related harm.

The hearing followed a ruling by the Northern Cape High Court in April, where the DG Murray Trust (DGMT) successfully challenged a law passed by the Northern Cape legislature that extended liquor trading hours in the province, without meaningful public participation.

The [Northern Cape Gambling and Liquor Act of 2024](https://media.lawlibrary.org.za/media/legislation/288761/source_file/dcebe6b34c92dcce/2024-6.pdf) allowed bars, taverns and other venues to sell alcohol until 2am, seven days a week; stores to sell liquor on Sundays; and nightclubs to sell liquor until 6am from Monday to Saturday, and until midnight on Sundays.

The high court found that the provincial legislature had failed to comply with its constitutional obligation to facilitate public involvement before passing the law, and declared the act invalid and unconstitutional. It also found that the formulation of certain provisions, such as one guiding trading hours for sorghum or traditional African beer, were unclear and irrational.

![Burgeoning Craft Beer Industry Creates Niche Market For Limited Release Beers](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/54ivlstoNXl7wPxbTVR3gBVwcM4=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Tamsin-ConCourt-NCliquor4_770723.jpg)

*In April 2026, the Northern Cape High Court found that the Northern Cape Gambling and Liquor Act of 2024 was invalid and unconstitutional, having been passed without meaningful public participation. (Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)*

In the Constitutional Court, the DG Murray Trust was seeking confirmation of the invalidity of the challenged provisions of the Act, as well as the suspension of the declaration of invalidity for 24 months while giving the provincial legislature an opportunity to remedy the defects in the legislation. In the two-year interim, it proposed measures mandating a midnight closing time for on-consumption sales, as well as no Sunday off-consumption sales for alcohol in the province.

However, the trust also wanted the Constitutional Court to uphold the trust’s constitutional rights challenge that the provincial legislature had an obligation to respect, protect and promote the rights to dignity, safety and health, as well as children’s rights, when passing laws regulating the trade of alcohol. In the high court ruling, the judge declined to make findings that the legislature had failed in its duty to uphold these rights by extending the trading hours for liquor outlets.

![Maurice Smithers, office bearer at Working for an Alcohol-Safer South Africa.
(Photo: Supplied / Source)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/dmfZNE6214uMRh6XpIJbUrVjJbc=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Tamsin-ConCourt-NCliquor5_206934.jpg)

*Maurice Smithers, office bearer at Working for an Alcohol-Safer South Africa. (Photo: Supplied / Source)*

### Alcohol harm reduction

Reflecting on the significance of the case before the Constitutional Court, Maurice Smithers, office bearer at Working for an Alcohol-Safer South Africa (Wassa), noted that the World Health Organization set out three actions that were “critically necessary” to achieve alcohol harm reduction: decreasing availability, increasing cost, and limiting or banning advertising.

“This particular issue of operating hours falls into the the sphere of availability. By closing earlier you are reducing availability, and in so doing you’re also then reducing potential alcohol-related harm,” he said.

The trust’s case drew on expert evidence from Professor Charles Parry of the South African Medical Research Council and economist Samantha Filby of the University of Cape Town, linking extended late-night alcohol availability to greater risks of heavy drinking, violence, injuries and pressure on healthcare services.

Research conducted by Filby and colleagues for the trust estimated that introducing a midnight closing time for on-consumption liquor retailers in the Western Cape could prevent between 163,800 and 453,000 cases of at least six alcohol-related health conditions over 20 years, with corresponding hospital cost savings of between R326-million and R890-million.

![DGMT CEO Dr David Harrison says that to eradicate stunting, dedicated leadership is required to mobilise government, the business sector, and civil society. (Photo: DGMT / Spotlight)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/ysLsStylWIwXfRvW8D2TS54nKqk=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Tamsin-ConCourt-NCliquor1_285488.jpg)

*DG Murray Trust CEO Dr David Harrison says that to eradicate stunting, dedicated leadership is required to mobilise the government, the business sector and civil society. (Photo: DGMT / Spotlight)*

DG Murray Trust chief executive David Harrison has emphasised that the case also relates to preventing alcohol-related violence, injuries and lifelong harm to children, especially in “communities already carrying the heaviest burden”.

South Africa has the highest reported prevalence of [foetal alcohol spectrum disorders](https://fasdunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/A6_ALL.pdf) (FASDs) globally, and within the country the Northern Cape is the province with the highest reported rates of these disorders.

Smithers said this factor made the legislature’s failure to follow proper public participation processes with regard to the law around liquor trading hours even more “disturbing”.

“If nobody’s watching, then they just do these things, so it’s great that DGMT took it on,” he said.

The case comes at a time when the debate about the government’s duty to protect people, including children, from alcohol-related harm is shaping the national agenda. In February 2026, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address flagged [alcohol consumption](https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/state-nation-address-president-cyril-ramaphosa-1) as a major contributor to child stunting, as well as a causal factor in violence, road accidents and crime. He called on provincial governments to strengthen the regulation of alcohol by limiting the density of liquor outlets, restricting trading hours and ending the sale of alcohol in large containers.

One of the 10 strategic priorities in the [National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children](https://ilifalabantwana.co.za/wp-content/uploads/NSAAC-2026.pdf), approved by Cabinet in late 2025, is to protect children and adolescents from all forms of abuse, violence, injuries and harmful substances, with one of the catalytic interventions under the framework being the strengthening of regulations that reduce access to alcohol through reduced trading hours, minimum unit pricing and reduced alcohol availability and advertising.

### In the ConCourt

In the Constitutional Court, advocate Andrew Breitenbach, representing the trust, argued for the submission that extending liquor trading hours constituted a failure to uphold fundamental human rights, referring to the expert evidence that late-night alcohol availability increased risks of alcohol-related harms. He further noted that the arguments around this rights challenge informed the proposed “just and equitable” interim relief measure of closing all liquor trading establishments at midnight rather than a later time.

Both Acting Justice Steven Budlender and Acting Justice Tembeka Ngcukaitobi questioned whether it was necessary for the Constitutional Court to make a finding on whether a 2am closing time was unconstitutional, versus a 12am closing time.

“Why could we not write a judgment which says the law is unconstitutional due to public participation \[failures\], without making any finding on whether the 2am cut-off is unconstitutional? We grant interim relief, limiting it to 12am... and then allow Parliament and the legislature to figure it out in due course,” Budlender said.

![University of Johannesburg hosts annual Nelson Mandela lecture](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/zAXNwH1cD-4Kt9PAwwYgMuKYlRE=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Tamsin-ConCourt-NCliquor3_398961.jpg)

*Tembeka Ngcukaitobi. (Photo: Frennie Shivambu / Gallo Images)*

The legal team for the Northern Cape legislature noted that it was not opposing the interim relief sought in the Constitutional Court, and was in agreement with reducing liquor trading hours for 24 months while it attempted to “fix what went wrong” with the legislation. It suggested that the trust’s constitutional rights challenge was “moot”, if the problematic provisions of the act had already been declared invalid due to the flawed public participation process.

Ngcukaitobi issued a scathing rebuke of the legislature, stating that the case involved “one of the gravest cases of a gross failure in public participation”.

The high court ruling found that the first version of the relevant bill was published only in English, with no public hearings conducted for this draft. For the second version of the Bill, which contained substantive changes, an email notice of a virtual public hearing was issued just six working days before the event. This notice was not widely distributed, but sent to only a select group of stakeholders.

### Broader regulatory challenges

Smithers explained that retail liquor licensing was an “exclusive provincial competence”, with the national government lacking the authority to tell provinces how to manage the issue. There were [norms and standards](https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/37322gen80.pdf) attached to the National Liquor Act, which recommended closing times of midnight or earlier for most alcohol-trading outlets, with the exception of nightclubs, which could close at 6am.

However, he noted that while these norms and standards should guide provincial liquor licensing frameworks, provinces had the power to enact their own legislation on the matter.

![There is a link between binge drinking and developing high blood pressure. Dr Nasheeta Peer believes alcohol marketing should be banned in South Africa.
(Photo: iStock)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/472euaRqxHhEU2hETZyNNsAKSBU=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/Tamsin-ConCourt-NCliquor6_754531.jpg)

*In his 2026 State of the Nation Address President Cyril Ramaphosa called on provincial governments to strengthen the regulation of alcohol by limiting the density of liquor outlets, restricting trading hours and ending the sale of alcohol in large containers. (Photo: iStock)*

“The whole space of operating hours is very, very confusing because you’ve got your norms and standards from national, which no one feels obliged to adhere to. You’ve got your provinces that are doing whatever they feel like doing... because each province is entitled to make its own law... and then added to that, you’ve got the problem of municipalities now that believe that they have the authority to extend operating hours,” Smithers observed.

He noted that Wassa had campaigned for constitutional change to make liquor policy and legislation a national competence, as well as institutional change to shift this function from the government’s economic cluster to its social cluster.

### From the Northern Cape legislature

The Northern Cape legislature told Daily Maverick that it respected the high court’s findings concerning its constitutional obligation to facilitate meaningful public involvement in the legislative process relating to the Northern Cape Gambling and Liquor Act of 2024.

“The Legislature further recognises that legislation regulating liquor trading has implications beyond the regulation of business activities, extending to matters affecting communities, public health, safety and the protection of vulnerable groups, including children,” it said.

The legislature said it would abide by the Constitutional Court’s decision, and undertake a renewed public participation process in respect of the affected provisions of the legislation, if so determined by the court.

“This process will seek to ensure that the communities and stakeholders affected by the legislation are afforded meaningful opportunities to participate, raise their concerns and make representations,” it said.

“Particular attention will be given to the issues identified in the \[High\] Court’s judgment. The Legislature acknowledges the importance of strengthening public confidence in the legislative process and remains committed to upholding the principles of openness, transparency, accountability and meaningful public participation.” **DM**