Spaza shop registration: Frustrated owners cry foul

JOHANNESBURG - Frustrated foreign nationals trying to register their spaza shops say they are being discriminated against, as they struggle with the registration process.
 
The immigrants have shared harrowing accounts of the treatment they’ve received from some municipal officials.
 
By Tuesday afternoon, the final day for all spaza shops across the country to register their shops,      hundreds of people were queuing at the Jabulani Civic Centre in Soweto.

They hoped to register their businesses before the close of business.

This is a measure the government has taken to regulate informal stores in response to the rise in foodborne illnesses allegedly linked to spaza shops. 
  
A group of visibly stressed Ethiopian nationals were sitting on the pavement, seemingly anxious about the future of their businesses.
 
One spaza shop owner, who identifies as an asylum seeker, said despite having all the required documents, he had been unable to register his shop.
 
“We are in trouble. If we close our shops, we won’t have anything to eat and survive.” 
 
He said they’d sought refuge in South Africa due to political challenges in Ethiopia, but were disappointed that they were treated like undocumented immigrants. 
 
“We asylum. If they don’t allow us to work in South Africa, maybe they must put us in a refuge. We can live there.”

Municipal officials told them that they had to apply for business visas.
 
However, to obtain a business visa in South Africa as a foreigner you must invest R5 million into an existing South African business.