Soweto spaza shop owners bemoan strict requirements to register their businesses
Last month, government opened a 21-day window for all spaza shop owners to officially register their businesses with their local municipalities.
Authorities conduct spaza shop inspections in Naledi, Soweto, following the death of six children from suspected food poisoning. Picture: EWN/ Jacques Nelles
JOHANNESBURG - Some spaza shop owners in Soweto have complained about strict requirements to register their businesses.
Last month, the government opened a 21-day window for all spaza shop owners to register their businesses with local municipalities.
Wednesday, ActionSA marched to the registration office in Jabulani, Soweto, calling for spaza shops to be exclusively reserved for South Africans.
ALSO READ: ActionSA wants foreign-owned businesses in townships to operate legally
Veronica Masuku says she’s been running two fish and chips shops in Dobsonville for over 30 years.
Masuku says she’s been struggling to register them.
“I came here and they told me they want a rough sketch of a building plan – and when I brought it, they rejected it and said they want a proper one. I am still waiting to meet with a professional planner.”
Another spaza shop owner Gugu Zikalala says the R1400 fee is steep for small businesses.
“I have an issue with government making us as South Africans having to register when the real problem here is foreign-owned spazas. As South African business owners we are also being inconvenienced even though we didn’t do anything and have been running our spaza shops for a long time with no incidents.”
The deadline for spaza shop registration is next week Friday.
Veronica Masuku, a spaza shop owner, said she has been struggling to register her fish and chips businesses due to the municipality requiring a building plan. TCG pic.twitter.com/S16IOKtTJ4
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) December 4, 2024
RUNNING SPAZA SHOP IS NOT A SCARCE SKILL – ACTIONSA
At the same time, ActionSA says running a spaza shop is not a critical skill that needs to be imported from outside the country.
The party's spokesperson Lerato Ngobeni says there should not be any foreign-owned spaza shop operating in the country after the deadline.
“We are unrelenting, we are saying #Spaza4Locals. Spaza for locals means the township economy, not just tuck shops, but the economy where South Africans are enabled, capacitated and capable to do the work - must be reserved for South Africans.
“If it’s not rare skill, if it’s not critical skill, it must be done by South Africans, that is the demand we have put to the City of Johannesburg.”