MMC for Economic Development and Spatial Planning Sarah Mabotsa has revealed that most spaza shops are run by Pakistani foreigners in Mamelodi and that the selfsame spaza shops are non-compliant with the by-laws that regulate businesses in the City of Tshwane.
Mabotsa made this revelation while speaking to Tshwane Talks in Mamelodi on Saturday.
She was part of a group of City of Tshwane MMCs who came to the township of Mamelodi as part of the City of Tshwane Municipality’s Intensive Festive Season Service Delivery Programme.
“Most spaza shops in Mamelodi are run by Pakistani foreigners and are non-compliant and after checking up on three spaza shops we found that these spaza shops don’t have what is called a certificate of acceptability, they don’t have zoning certificates, they don’t have trading licenses, so basically they’ve got nothing,” explained Mabotsa.
She further said upon inspection it was found that such spaza shops sell expired goods with no brand names or bar codes and some of their stock has not been manufactured in South Africa,” she said.
Mabotsa said the illegal spaza shop operators sleep in their spaza shops which are very filthy, smelly and there is no ventilation.
“Moving forward as the City of Tshwane Municipality we have taken a conscious decision to put our residents of Tshwane first in that they must eat clean food, run the spaza shop businesses themselves as this is their own economy and illegal foreigners can’t be allowed to run spaza shop businesses while 38% of people in Tshwane are unemployed and looking for an opportunity to be involved in the spaza shop business,” enthused Mabotsa.
Mabotsa urged residents of Tshwane who want to be involved in the spaza shop business to register their businesses before the 28 February 2025 deadline and assured them that there will be an overall amount of R500 million that would be made available to businesses like spaza shops as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year.
“Without the residents of Tshwane, we won’t be able to move the economy of the City forward,” she said.
The MMC also warned residents against giving their Identity Documents to foreigners so that they can register their spaza shops.
She explained that such a situation may end up with the homeowner losing her home.
“The president has spoken, and we are executing exactly what he said, there is outrage out there, there is food poisoning in spaza shops, kids are dying, and we are checking up on compliance and those that do not comply will have to be shut down,” said Mabotsa.