Crackdown on expired food and fake goods at Durban spaza shops

At least two undocumented foreign shop owners were arrested and a tavern was shut down on Monday during unannounced visits to township-based spaza shops in Durban.

The raids are part of a campaign that was announced by KwaZulu-Natal economic development, tourism, and environmental affairs (Edtea) MEC Siboniso Duma last week.

He said the campaign would focus on combating violation of consumer rights by conducting unannounced visits to businesses that sell food at inflated prices, sell expired food products and counterfeit goods.

“We will have no mercy against retailers or companies that sell much-needed food and other products at inflated prices … Selling of counterfeit products is crippling our economy as illegal sellers do not pay tax.”

It is led by the department of economic development, tourism, and environmental affairs  through its business regulations and consumer protection unit, together with law enforcement and other consumer protection bodies.

The first raids were in Malukazi, in Umlazi, on Monday.

Provincial Edtra spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya said they uncovered unlabelled and expired food products, including baby formula, sweets and flour as well as undocumented immigrants who were manning the shops in the township.

“These [expired products] pose a very serious health risk to our communities,” he said.

“Two undocumented foreign nationals were arrested by home affairs’ immigration unit, and one tavern was shut down by inspectors from the KZN Liquor Authority because it was selling liquor in the early hours of the morning.”

One shop owner who was found selling expired goods, Joseph Markos, said he was surprised because they check their stock every month for expired items.

“We used to check our products every month [for any expired goods], but now we have someone who checks for us because we don’t want mistakes or to fight with customers. We want to ensure safety. I don’t know how come there were expired goods, I will ask the guys who check for us now. I’m sure it’s a mistake, but we will throw it away.”

Markos is also one of the two who were detained for failing to produce immigration documents.

Nompumelelo Mzelemu from Edtea’s enforcement and compliance unit noticed most of the shops were neither displaying prices on their products nor giving receipts to customers.

“Most shops don't label the prices of their products, and they sell the chips that are self-packaged, which is not right since no-one can determine what's in them and when they are expiring. They also don't give out receipts to their customers which makes it difficult to return items they are unsatisfied with,” said Mzelemu.

Sibiya said the campaign would be continuing to other parts of the province through various roadshows over the coming months as they want to protect “local and honest” entrepreneurs in townships and rural areas against a “syndicate that has infiltrated the spaza shop market” in the province.

Last week, Duma said spaza shop owners had been complaining for a long time about being forced out of the market by mostly foreigners who buy in bulks, gaining competitive edge.

To assist local entrepreneurs against that, Duma said they would be inviting shop owners to apply for a grant facility of R100,000 as part of a programme managed by Ithala and Moses Kotane Institute.

R20,000 will help them acquire stock and fund a shortfall of liquidity for social grants pay-outs, as they will be providing 960 shops with speed points to pay social grants.

“We have reconfigured the Bulk Buying Warehouse in KwaSithebe, Mandeni, with a cost of more than R4m. The first bulk purchase of food for spaza shops is valued at more than R4.1m.”

“We are identifying buildings that are owned by Ithala across the province to be used as warehouses. This is to create direct access to suppliers and reduce costs of goods and further make them accessible within local municipalities from where they operate.”

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