SOUTH AFRICA: There are dozens of them in every township in South Africa. But until yesterday no one had thought to ask what exactly a "shebeen" is.
The South African Constitutional Court is now deliberating over the matter following an application from the South African Liquor Traders Association (Salta).
The organisation, which represents unlicensed bar owners, complained that no concrete definition existed for the word "shebeen", an apparent derivative of the Irish síbín or speak-easy.
With blacks barred from licensed premises during the apartheid era, "shebeens" sprung up across South Africa as informal meeting places - often housed in little more than tin shacks.
Neither history books nor Irish dictionaries were opened in court yesterday, but local liquor licensing legislation was examined in close detail.
Section 1 of the Gauteng Liquor Act, 2003, governing the province that includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, defined a "shebeen" as an unlicensed business whose main trade was selling liquor, and which had sold less than 10 cases of 12x750ml beer bottles.
Salta argued that the definition was vague and possibly meaningless as the Act did not indicate a time period.
Local licensing authorities have accepted the flaw and suggested a clause be added to limit sales to 10 cases of beer a week.
But Salta, and 14 other applicant organisations, argued that the quantities involved were so small that the majority of "shebeens" would be driven out of business.
Moreover, the applicants claimed that the definition was irrational as it referred only to the sale of beer, leaving it open to "shebeens" to sell unlimited quantities of other liquor.
A Salta spokesman said: "We want to see all the so-called informal traders who are regarded by the Act as illegal, we want to see them within a regulatory framework, so that they are able to trade without any fear and can grow their businesses as they wish."
"Shebeens" face a constant threat of closure by police, who have linked them periodically to crime, prostitution and other social ills.
The illicit nature of some unlicensed bars prompted a Durban High Court judge last February to call for a major clampdown on the trade.
The constitutional court is set to rule on the matter before the end of the year.