All spaza shops are now required to register with their local authorities. However, this raises a critical question about the effectiveness of current quality control measures in protecting consumer safety. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Spaza shop owners have until Tuesday, 17 December, to register their businesses, and not Friday the 13th, which many believed was the cut off date for registration.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on 15 November that all food handling facilities and spaza shops should register their businesses within 21 days and 17 December is in that period.
The directive came amid a number of cases of food-borne illnesses being reported across the country, which have killed more than 20 children.
“The counting of the 21 days started on Monday, 18 November considering that municipal offices are closed on weekends and public holidays,” the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) said in a statement on Thursday.
It reiterated that businesses that missed the registration window would be closed down.
The Gauteng provincial government said this week that as of 10 December, 13 616 spaza shops had been issued with registration forms. Of these, 1 916 forms were returned. Some 2 605 applications were submitted by non-South African spaza shop owners.
Additionally, 541 spaza shops were closed for non-compliance. These did not have a Companies and Intellectual Property Commission registration, which is a legal requirement for businesses operating in South Africa.
Other issues of non-compliance included not having certificates of acceptability or comment from the City of Johannesburg’s environment health department and failure to pay operating licenses obtained from municipalities.
“Businesses operating from unsafe premises and within a hazardous environment have also been closed for non-compliance,” the Gauteng government said.
In his 15 November announcement, Ramaphosa also ordered the spaza shops implicated in the deaths of six children in Naledi, Soweto, to be closed immediately. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases had found that their deaths were linked to a harmful agricultural pesticide called Terbufos.
Ramaphosa said the government interventions were aimed at preventing food borne illnesses and to get pesticides off the streets. He added that a multidisciplinary team would also conduct door-to-door inspections of all spaza shops, tuck shops and other informal traders.
On Thursday the GCIS said these teams are identifying and closing non-compliant businesses and “confiscating illegal and unsafe products that pose risks to public health”.
They are also doing compliance checks and intelligence-led operations targeting food warehouses, supermarkets and other food handlers.
These inspections will continue beyond the 21-day period, the statement said.