SA’s economy must ‘go back to the hands of South Africans’: Hlabisa to spaza shop owners ahead of registration deadline
The COGTA minister said a foreign national could only register or apply for a business licence if they had a business visa, an asylum seeker certificate or a refugee certificate.
City of Johannesburg multi-disciplinary inspection team raided a Dobsonville spaza shop on 22 November 2024 and shut it down for for running a business in a residential area, selling expired products, and using expired asylum papers. Picture: @CityofJoburgZA/X
CAPE TOWN - Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa has issued a stern warning to owners of small businesses, spaza shops and other food handling convenient stores.
"If you did not apply come the 18th of December, that business should not open its doors, because it would be illegal to operate a business while you had days to comply with the law and you did not."
Last month, the president gave businesses 21 days to ensure they are registered - and that period ends on Tuesday.
This followed hundreds of cases of food contamination and the deaths of at least 23 children - some who were confirmed to have died of poisoning linked to the agricultural pesticide terbufos.
Hlabisa said a foreign national could only register or apply for a business licence if they had a business visa, an asylum seeker certificate or a refugee certificate.
"Most of the people who are running spaza shops, especially foreign nationals, do not qualify because if you are a foreign national, you must have a business visa and you must prove you have R5 million as an investment, go through the process... SARS ...Most of them don't qualify in that category. You can't open a business if you came as a person who is seeking a job."
Hlabisa has made it clear, businesses that are not compliant cannot operate come Tuesday.
"This economy must go back to the hands of South Africans.... South Africans have the documentation to apply, they do have their IDs, there is half a billion Rand put forward by the government to support business people who want to run these businesses correctly under health conditions, and not being a risk to our communities."