I note, with all due respect, that the ruling handed down by the court, in the report Police Need Court Order To Close Restaurant (June 21) is wrong.
Regulations clearly state that if one fails to comply with the regulatory provisions, a police sergeant “shall have the power to order the immediate remedy of any such breach to his satisfaction and any member of the police force not below the rank of inspector may order the immediate closure of the premises for a period of 12 hours as he shall deem appropriate in the circumstances. In the case where the person having effective control of the commercial premises fails to comply with any order given to him in terms of this paragraph, the Commissioner of Police shall have the power to issue an order in writing for the immediate closure of the premises and cessation of commercial activity from the said premises for a period of not more than 15 days”.
The Commissioner of Police has the right to ask the Trade Licensing Department to revoke the licence if there are persistent breaches.
This is not the first instance of injustice concerning noise. I recently had three similar court cases where the offending parties got away free. The court-appointed experts (an architect and an electrical engineer; noise reports are drawn up by acousticians) reached the wrong conclusions and the magistrate concerned did not allow the contestation of their reports.