Businessman who assists spaza shop operators in formalising their business says they won't meet the deadline

CAPE TOWN - A businessman who assists spaza shop operators in formalising their business says there is no way that all the spaza shops will be registered by the end of Friday.

Government set a deadline of this afternoon for all spaza shop operators and owners to submit the necessary paperwork and fees in order to register and keep trading.

This is in an attempt to monitor the informal trade industry following the deaths of twenty-one children last year.

The children died after allegedly consuming snacks purchased from spaza shops.

Scelo Msiza, of Spazacentric, a company that has been assisting spaza shop owners since 2021 in formalising their business structure, says hundreds of spaza shops are still to be registered in Soweto alone.

You have people that have certain documents but they don't have the one consent use, like the rezoning one because that costs money about R1885. There is one where you need to do the floor planning and that requires and architect, and you need to pay that person.

He outlines what is required for spaza shop owners to be compliant.
"If you want to be fully operational and fully compliant you need a business license, health and safety certificate, you need a certificate of acceptability as well. And to register because they have been informal, to register the business as well."