Hlabisa: No need for govt to impose limit on foreign nationals operating spaza shops

JOHANNESBURG - Cooperative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa said that there were no indications at this stage that government should impose a limit on the number of foreign nationals allowed to operate spaza shops.

This comes after it was revealed that a majority of the spaza shops that have been registered are owned and operated by South Africans.

Hlabisa provided an update on the registration of these stores during a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday.

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More than 19,000 spaza shops that applied for registration were approved, but no figures were provided on how many of these were owned by foreign nationals.

Minister Hlabisa said it appeared that many foreign nationals had chosen not to register their businesses due to various reasons.

He believes that, given this situation, their stores would likely be shut down, making the imposition of a quota on foreign-owned spaza shops unnecessary.

"Definitely there will be no need to put a quota because there will be no foreign national that is meeting the requirements to run a spaza shop of a food handling outlet."

Hlabisa has ordered all provinces to compile figures showing how many foreign nationals had applied and been approved to operate spaza shops.