By BAKANG MOKOTO
28 February 2025- Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affair (COGTA), Velenkosi Hlabisa said in the address to the nation on 15 November 2024, following the deaths of children due to food-borne illnesses, amongst measures adopted by the government, President Ramaphosa outlined a key compliance intervention on the regulation of spaza shops.
Hlabisa said as a government, they understand the concerns raised by some stakeholders regarding the registration deadline for spaza shops. He added, however, it must be noted that this was set to address the urgent need to ensure compliance with health and safety standards following the tragic incidents of food-borne illnesses.
“Registration ensures that all spaza shops meet minimum standards, regardless of their past operations. In considering whether or not to extend the registration deadline, the government considers its commitment to supporting small businesses, prioritising health and safety, ensuring inclusivity and fairness and maintaining its integrity.
“The municipal processes of adopting and adapting the by-laws as gazetted by the Minister of COGTA on 7 November 2024, are highly regulated and need a lot of consultation to complete,” he said.
Hlabisa said prior to the revised deadline of 28 February 2025, the government in all its spheres will continue to implement the action plan to address the crisis of foodborne illnesses and the illicit trade of goods across the country. He said those who have registered their businesses and have duly received their acknowledgement of registration still need to undertake a further process to obtain their trading licenses.
“For this process, Environmental Health Practitioners and other regulatory authorities will still inspect owners of registered food-related trading businesses to ensure that their businesses are eligible to trade.
“Notwithstanding the holiday scaling down of operations, municipalities must still reserve capacity to assist those who will be registering. We also urge business owners to continue with their registration process within their respective municipalities and not wait until the next registration deadline,” said Hlabisa.
He said it is essential to explain that the end of this period does not mean that the process is over. Hlabisa said a lot still needs to happen for those who have registered their businesses and others who still need to do so.
“As the multidisciplinary team dealing with this outbreak, we will continue our efforts to ensure that all food handling facilities, including manufacturers comply with business and health regulatory requirements.
“We need to explain that we are dealing with two distinct processes. The first process is business compliance, where you need to register the spaza shops or any food handling business. The second process is compliance with health regulations,” he said.
Hlabisa said this process does not depend on whether you are registered or not. He said if you do not comply with the health regulations, the business is closed down immediately.
“So far, 1041 spaza shops have already been closed. We are aware of some who have encountered obstacles not of their own making, preventing them from complying with the 21-day registration period.
“We would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have taken the time to register their businesses. This was an essential step in ensuring that these businesses uphold the dignity and protect the human lives of the public they serve from which they derive their livelihoods,” said Hlabisa.
Meanwhile, the North West MEC for Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Oageng Molapisi said: “They are appealing to the owners of tuck shops and food handling outlets to make sure that they register their businesses before the end of business today. The 28 February is the last day for registration of tuck shops.
“Through different municipalities, the province has received 8968 registration applications and 6579 were from foreign nationals. More than 4045 compliance inspections were conducted throughout the province and 273 businesses were found to be non-compliant.”
Molapisi said out of 273 businesses, 73 were shut down because they had no Certificate of Acceptance for food business, unhygienic conditions with evidence of cockroach infestations and spoiled food. He said this includes structural violations of owners sleeping inside the shops with poor ventilation and illegal business operation without a permit.
The Guardian 