CoJ praises officials for efforts on first day of enforcing by-laws targeting illegal spaza shops

JOHANNESBURG - The City of Johannesburg has praised officials for their efforts on the first day of enforcing new by-laws targeting illegal spaza shops.  

On Saturday, dozens of officials from the Department of Home Affairs and immigration authorities, working alongside public safety personnel and police, descended on spaza shops to check compliance and verify the citizenship status of owners.  

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The operation led to several arrests, the closure of non-compliant shops, and the detention of foreign shop owners for vetting by immigration officials.  

Acting Johannesburg Mayor Eunice Mgcina, who participated in the raids, commended the officials for their commitment to enforcing the law without fear or favour.  

“All the departments - Home Affairs, SAPS [South African Police Service], JMPD [Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department] – today, we managed to close spaza shops as per the call by the president that we need to close all illegal spaza shops, so we have done that today. I may not have the stats, so we will get the stats consolidated, so we are able to share with everyone.”