Buffalo City Metro
Tuesday is the final day for spaza shop owners to register their businesses or face possible closure.
Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa set a 21-day deadline for spaza shop registrations as part of efforts to combat a surge in foodborne illnesses.
At least 23 children have died from foodborne illnesses since September, with KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng being the hardest hit.
In the Buffalo City Metro (BCM) in the Eastern Cape, the citizenship status of foreign national business owners remains an issue in the registration process.
A community leader for Ethiopians in East London says they have been sent from pillar to post as they rush to honour Ramaphosa's call to register their informal businesses.
Desta Amanuel explains that, due to the asylum-seeking status of many and the involvement of multiple departments in the process, there are concerns that timeous registration will not be possible.
“It is very difficult for us to complete all these processes in 21 days. The main problem is that most of us are asylum-seekers using Section 22 asylum paper which says we can work and study but when you go and get company registration documents they do not accept it.”
Amanuel said he feared for his community as the deadline is only hours away, “We do not know what is going to happen tomorrow, I’m afraid most of our people did not finish registering their businesses.
BCM spokesperson, Samkelo Ngwenya, last week stated that about 1000 applications had been submitted for business registration, with only 100 applications being approved thus far, while the rest reflected the issue of citizenship.
He further stated that with the Metro’s spaza raids continuing twice weekly, unregistered businesses would be shut down as per the president’s call.
Amanuel however expressed concern regarding the unforeseen issue of citizenship status, stating that the government should find a way to accommodate those without a permanent residency status in the country.
Ngwenya had assured that the issue of asylum-seekers would be escalated to intergovernmental platforms for a resolution.
