Spaza retailers all throughout South Africa had till final week Friday 28 February 2025 to register. However, Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Development Lebogang Maile confirmed this week that tens of hundreds of spaza retailers didn’t comply in time. And they may due to this fact be pressured to shut their doorways, reviews The Citizen.
The South African spaza store registration drive took place after 24 meals poisoning incidents had been recorded final 12 months. As a outcome, provincial authorities needed to clamp down on hazardous and expired foods being sold to children. Maile defined that 17 617 registration functions had been submitted and 29 116 inspections of present spaza retailers had been carried out. Roughly 15 000 spaza retailers discovered to be non-compliant and 498 so unhealthy they had been closed with rapid impact.
NO EXTENSION FOR SPAZA SHOPS
Furthermore, Minister Velenkosi Hlabisa of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) says there’ll no be an extensions or exemptions to spaza store homeowners, reviews IOL. As The South African reported, nevertheless, many spaza store homeowners expressed issues about registration. They argued the interval was too brief and the applying course of too troublesome. Nevertheless, Minister Velenkosi stated there was greater than sufficient time and any spaza store working with out the mandatory paperwork shall be closed, and the proprietor charged for working illegally.
As a part of practically 30 000 inspections, officers suggested homeowners who had unfinished paperwork to return to registration centres to finish their functions totally. But many argue the registration drive was a method to restrict international possession of retailers. The division famous that 7 107 registration functions had come from foreign nationals.
OWNERS WERE ADVISED
“From the onset, we appreciate the limitations of communication and the fact that we cannot just use social media. We must also go to the people and make inspections. We have also seen a number fraudulent documents and delays in the verification of foreign nationals by the Home Affairs. Any incomplete documentation includes the contravention of building regulations and business licences,” said Maile. In regard to high-cost enterprise licences, he stated authorities was exploring ‘various mechanisms’ to help regionally owned and criticism spaza retailers.
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