Thousands of SPAZA shops closed after missed registration

Spaza retailers all throughout South Africa had till final week Friday 28 February 2025 to register. Nevertheless, Gauteng MEC for Finance and Financial Growth Lebogang Maile confirmed this week that tens of hundreds of spaza retailers didn’t comply in time. And they’ll subsequently be pressured to shut their doorways, reviews The Citizen.

The South African spaza store registration drive happened after 24 meals poisoning incidents have been recorded final yr. In consequence, provincial authorities needed to clamp down on hazardous and expired meals being offered to kids. Maile defined that 17 617 registration functions have been submitted and 29 116 inspections of current spaza retailers have been performed. Roughly 15 000 spaza retailers discovered to be non-compliant and 498 so dangerous they have been closed with instant impact.

NO EXTENSION FOR SPAZA SHOPS

Moreover, Minister Velenkosi Hlabisa of Cooperative Governance and Conventional 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 quick and the applying course of too troublesome. However, Minister Velenkosi stated there was greater than sufficient time and any spaza store working with out the mandatory paperwork will probably be closed, and the proprietor charged for working illegally.

As a part of almost 30 000 inspections, officers suggested homeowners who had unfinished paperwork to return to registration centres to finish their functions totally. However many argue the registration drive was a method to restrict overseas possession of outlets. The division famous that 7 107 registration functions had come from overseas nationals.

OWNERS WERE ADVISED

“From the onset, we recognize the constraints of communication and the truth that we can not simply use social media. We should additionally go to the individuals and make inspections. We’ve additionally seen a quantity fraudulent paperwork and delays within the verification of overseas nationals by the House Affairs. Any incomplete documentation consists of the contravention of constructing laws and enterprise licences,” acknowledged Maile. In regard to high-cost enterprise licences, he stated authorities was exploring ‘numerous mechanisms’ to help regionally owned and grievance spaza retailers.

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