Spaza shop owners and food businesses are urged to register their businesses with municipalities or face legal repercussions. This is as the deadline for registration looms.
In November last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that spaza shop owners and small businesses had 21 days to register their businesses with their local municipalities following hundreds of cases of foodborne illnesses in parts of the country. Nearly 30 people died after consuming snacks purchased at some spaza shops.
During the address to the nation, Ramaphosa outlined a key compliance intervention on the regulation of spaza shops. The President directed that all spaza shops and other food handling facilities must be registered within the municipalities in which they operate within 21 days from the date of his address and that any shop that is not registered within 21 days and does not meet all health standards and requirements is closed.
The 21-day period ended on the 17th of December 2024, and following concerns raised by business owners the government, in consultation with the President, extended the registration deadline for all Spaza Shops and other food-handling outlets to 28 February 2025.
READ MORE: Spaza shop owners urged to register before deadline
However, government noted that the initial deadline was set to address the urgent need to ensure compliance with health and safety standards following the tragic incidents of food-borne illnesses.
As the extended deadline looms, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisaha has made it clear that no extension will be given to spaza shop owners to register their businesses.
READ MORE: >4000 applications in CT as spaza shop registration deadline looms
