Police close down three Roots Butcheries due to over-crowding

A message sent out by Roots Butcheries indicated that police closed them down, it is not sure at this stage in which town/province this occurred, but Ermelo’s Roots Butchery remains open.

The initial message read: “Roots Butchery is being closed by the police. If your store is closed and you need food please ask your police station why they closed our stores.”

This was soon followed by a second message: Roots Butchery wants to correct our previous message. The police have only closed three of our stores as of 2pm 27 March 2020 due to over-crowding. Call 010 590 9270 for more info. We apologise for any confusion caused and respect the lockdown protocols. Please be safe and practice social distancing.

Manager of the local Roots Butchery, Mr Roger Costa, ensured residents that they are still operational, but requested people to adhere to social distancing as many people still ignore this safety measure which was put in place to avoid spreading this killer virus.

Several businesses that are trading had to follow certain steps to ensure they were able to lawfully trade during this 21-day-lockdown.

According to Mr Charles Roberts, manager of the local Pick & Pay in Ermelo, they had to apply to trade and was granted a document issued by the commissioner of Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CICP).

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ebrahim Patel, announced earlier in the week that all businesses that provide essential services, were required to seek approval from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) in order for them to trade during the period of the lockdown in terms of the regulations published by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Ms Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in Regulation Gazette No. 11062.

Such businesses were required to apply on the (CIPC) Bizportal website to obtain a certificate from the commission that allows them to continue trading.

The application was a simple declaration requiring minimal registration details, type of business/trade involved, what trading name if any is used and whether it met the requirements contained in the list of the essential services, the contact details of the person applying as well as the number of employees that would be working during the lockdown period.

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The CIPC registry pre-populated the remaining companies’ information and emailed certificates to state that the businesses were allowed to trade.

The certificate can then be used as evidence to supply to authorities to indicate that the business has been given government permission to trade and that its employees are able to have unrestricted movement ONLY in the course of that trade.

It should be stressed and noted that if you make a false application to the CIPC, and are indeed not an essential service as per the government regulations, such will be taken as a fraudulent application and will render yourself as applicant liable to criminal prosecution and sanction.

For additional Enquiries contact Sidwell Medupe-Departmental Spokesperson at 012 394 1650.

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Make sure to read the Highvelder Newspaper for the complete article.

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