Long queues formed at the Jabulani Civic Center in Soweto as today is the government’s deadline for small business owners to comply with municipal bylaws relating to running a small business business.

The registration process is the government’s effort to stop recent food-borne illnesses and deaths caused by food allegedly purchased from Spaza stores.

Gauteng Spaza Store and Landlord Forum chairman Veli Khumalo said he was seeking a three-month extension to allow all Spaza stores to register.

“The reason I say that is because this process requires hard work. Firstly, most people do not have property titles, they have to find accommodation in the city and do not have money to obtain property titles. Others live in RDP houses, they do not have property titles. Because to complete this consent form, you must have a title deed.

Registration in Soweto was extended until Wednesday after the Center ran out of application forms.

Spaza Store Registration – Extension for those at Jabulani Civic Center in Soweto as forms run out

Advocacy group – Black Entrepreneurs Alliance (BEA) has questioned the compliance of spaza shop owners, who have again successfully applied for business permits in the townships.

Alliance CEO Refilwe Monageng says: “More and more people have been complying and doing things right – these are apparently foreigners. Now the question is: if foreigners comply, there is a form, the affidavit that you must complete in consultation with interested and affected parties. In this form, you need to call your neighbors and people you live in the same yard with – they need to fill out an affidavit and give you their consent for you to open a spaza shop. For example, the people of Soweto, including our members, and those of Eldorado Park and Westbury – I can tell you now with certainty, they said that they had never been to a community meeting where men foreign businessmen called them to come and sign and ask for their consent to operate these stores.

In Bloemfontein, spaza traders formed snaking queues outside municipal offices before opening time. Some say they had to come back more than twice.

Some wonder if they will be able to finalize their application. The language barrier is one of the obstacles faced by foreigners.

They requested an extension of this period.

Mpumalanga

More than 7,000 spaza shop owners have applied to register their businesses in Mpumalanga province. The municipality of Mbombela has the largest number with more than 2,000 applications.

And in Nkomazi municipality, authorities are worried because none of the candidates are qualified to run a business. Spaza shop owners do not have the proper documents to register their business.

Spaza store owners are waiting to register and some are returning their applications and hoping their documents are in order to continue running their stores or face closure.

“I am happy with the license and I have already paid for it,” says a businessman. “I have been here for 25 years. It’s all good because we want to be here for the good deals, and we don’t want anything bad that informs the community and we want to be good businessmen.

“It’s very important to us. We must do business, with all the requirements, as the country has said. We must also respect the rules and the law. We are truly grateful to the South African government,” adds another.

Spaza store owners are required to register their business and comply with health and safety standards.

The Nkomazi municipality received more than 550 applications, mostly from foreign nationals. And the applications do not meet the requirements.

Cyril Riphinga from Nkomazi Municipality explains: “Among the 555 applicants, none are qualified to obtain a license because they do not meet the required conditions. The most frustrating thing is non-South Africans, the majority of whom do not have the necessary papers to run a business in the municipality. Some people came here with a study permit and suddenly they started doing business. And we need proof that you came here to do business, so they failed to give us that proof. We carried out our routine checks within the municipality and among those who sell counterfeits, some sell tin products that have already expired.

Brenda Mabaso, from the Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism, says: “We have about 7,067 from the three districts…the statistics change every hour as people wait until the last day. We will still carry out audits and verifications. And once the verification process is completed, the business license can be issued.