D-day for spaza shop owners to register businesses

JOHANNESBURG - It is D-day for spaza shop owners to register their businesses.

In November, President Cyril Ramaphosa set a 21-day deadline for spaza shop registrations, ending on Tuesday.

Ramaphosa's directive comes as more than 20 children have died due to suspected food contamination.

Acting Gauteng Premier Lebogang Maile said that they had faced numerous challenges during the registration process, including officials being threatened not to help foreign nationals.

"There were minor problems and one of those is people who were threatening the officials, insisting that they must not register or rather not help foreign nationals. We have said before that there are the laws of the country and we stated that one of the requirements is if you are a foreign investor, there is a specific amount that you have to invest which is about R5 million or so."