Note to Editors: Please find an English soundbite by Cllr Dikeledi Selowa here
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane has conducted an investigation into the compliance status of the ZanZou night club with City by-laws after the revelation of horrific acts of sexual abuse, assault and torture captured on video.
While the criminal investigation is left in the hands of law enforcement, our investigation revealed that Zan Zou was zoned as Category 1 business, preventing it from operating as a nightclub – thus it has been in contravention of the City of Tshwane’s zoning regulations.
We have also questioned when last the City did building inspections and if the establishment had recently been visited by Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP) from the City, to ensure health and safety regulations were being followed. We will report back on this in due course.
This comes on the back of the City not having adequate EHPs, who only work during regular business hours, preventing them from attending to businesses that operate at night and as a result, failing to address businesses who operate outside of the law.
Instead, establishments like Zan Zou have been allowed to operate essentially illegally, due to a failure in enforcing by-laws.
Inadvertently, this has led to heinous crimes being committed against people.
The enforcement of by-laws has never been more important, and we call on the administration to ensure that stringent enforcement takes place. Prevention is always better than cure.
Further, we urge the City to conduct wide ranging inspections at night clubs like Zan Zou. It will be important to not only look at those operating without liquor licenses, but also to ensure that they comply with building codes, by conducting unannounced inspections to businesses operating at night in the City.
The truth is, if the City was doing its job, businesses would not have the confidence to take the law unto themselves.