Solwezi deputy Mayor Adrian Nkolomba has implored Solwezi Municipal Council Management to intensify inspections of drinking places and stop the mushrooming bars and taverns in communities.
Mr Nkolomba said undesignated drinking places are a public nuisance and if left unchecked, has potential to become breeding grounds for criminality.
He said there is a need to bring sanity in communities by heightening inspections and ensuring adherence to provisions of the liquor licensing Act number 20 of 2011.
“Ensure your inspections are intensified, what we are seeing in communities is unacceptable. We have the liquor licensing Act that gives us power to close down any place found wanting, “Mr Nkolomba said.
Mr Nkolomba who is also Kimale ward Councillor was speaking today when he presided over the first ordinary council meeting for the 2026 civic year.
He said underage drinking and noise pollution are becoming common in communities and that this should not be allowed to continue.
“We have been talking about this trend for a long time and people look at it to be normal but it is not something that we should accept in our community, so let us go there and do patrols and ensure there is order, ” Mr Nkolomba said.
And Kazhiba Ward Councillor Collins Chiwaya expressed concern with the number of children patronising drinking places at the expense of school in communities.
Mr Chiwaya said there is need to curb the vice by conducting regular patrols in bars and taverns and closing down any operator found abrogating the Liquor Licensing Act.
“Your worship, there is a bar in my ward just at the market that allows underage children and pollutes the place with their music and people are complaining. Our inspectors need to conduct random patrols in some of these communities,” Mr Chiwaya said.
Meanwhile, the council has directed management to demolish Excel Lodge situated near the Solwezi main market by October month-end as it is a health and safety hazard.
Now that is indeed a good move weldone