Ntshavheni urges South Africans not to buy from unregistered spaza shops

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has warned South Africans to stop buying from unregistered spaza shops, especially if they don’t know where these informal businesses buy their stock.

Ntshavheni suggested some of the unregistered spaza shops run by foreigners who are in the country illegally produced some of their stock from their own back yards.

She was responding to journalists’ questions about the spate of food poisoning of children eating contaminated food believed to be sold in spaza shops and by street vendors.

“We must take a decision as society that we are not buying at the spaza shops when we are not sure where they are buying their products. We are not buying at spaza shops where spaza shops are not registered in their municipalities,” she said.

Ntshavheni, a former minister of small business development, said the department works with municipalities to make sure spaza shops are registered.

“During my tenure and during Covid-19 we made a directive that enjoined municipalities to register spaza shops and any other informal business for free if they could prove their citizenship.”

She said South Africans should demand to see the registration certificate when they go to a spaza shop.

Ntshavheni suggested South Africans who protested against the government’s crackdown on illegal spaza shops should also take the blame.

“When I was minister of small business development we started a drive to make sure all spaza shops are registered. That would have dealt with the ownership of spaza shops in South Africa, but it was South Africans who took us to court, saying you cannot force registration.

“There is a court judgment that says even illegal foreigners are allowed to operate, whereas the law says to operate a business in South Africa you must be registered and for the foreigners to operate a business they must have made an investment of no less than R5m.”

She said there were no spaza shops that cost R5m or more.

“It was us South Africans who complained when municipal officials were conducting raids, confiscating and dumping food that was not certified, some of it expired.

“We can’t have our cake and eat it. We must decide what is in our best interests and I am sure the lives of our children and our own lives are more important than buying cheaper fake products.”

The departments of home affairs, labour and employment, among others, make inspections to ensure businesses operating in townships and villages are registered, she said.

Ntshavheni said she hoped with the intensification of work at home affairs and eradication of visa backlogs everyone in the country will be legally documented and those not documented will be deported.

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