Re-registration plan for spaza shops unveiled

The Gauteng government has outlined its plan to help re-register spaza shops. This is a step towards regulating the informal sector following the series of deadly food-borne illnesses in the country.

The new measures are aimed at helping spaza shop owners to register their businesses within the 21-day deadline set by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week for all operators to reregister their businesses or face closure.

The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) said it welcomes the president’s interventions as it align with the interventions that had been proposed by the provincial leadership.

Earlier this month, GPG had an extensive consultation with Professor Hanna-Andrea Rother, the head of the environmental health division in the School of Public Health at the University of Cape Town.

This was done to gain deeper knowledge on the subject of pesticide toxicity as a means of determining the approach to the elimination of the identified pesticide in the deaths and hospitalisations of children in the province.

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The department also relaunched the Qondis’ Ishishini Lakho campaign as a comprehensive programme to address all aspects of illegality prevalent in the township economy.

Whilst focus has been on the extent to which businesses comply with licensing, permits and health conditions, the conditions of properties used in business operations must also be compliant with zoning regulations in local government.

One of the key challenges that have given rise to non-compliance by spaza shops in Gauteng is that most structures used for spaza shops do not meet building control, zoning rights and environmental health standards.

Municipalities will be intervening in this through the deployment of building inspectors, environment health officers, local economic development officers, fire inspectors, as well as town and regional planners.

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Operators can go to their respective municipal offices to register. Various requirements need to be met to ensure the successful registration of your spaza shop. These include:

• A correctly filed application form that provides personal and business details.

• A certified and valid copy of a South African identity document

• Proof of residence

• Business registration with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission

• Proof of ownership or permission to utilise business premises

• Zoning certificate and consent use or special consent use or comment from municipal city planning

• Certificate of acceptability or comment from the environmental health department supporting the application

• The municipality-determined payment before a license is issued.