‘They copied our poster’: Municipality denies working with retailer to register spaza shops

Moses Kotane Local Municipality has distanced itself from a retailer in the town of Mogwase that had been offering its services to register spaza shops. The advert appeared as the government tries to curb illegal retailers due to contaminated food.

Some residents were alarmed and called The Citizen after they saw local Cash n Carry retailer advertising that it will assist spaza shop owners and landlords with the registration process and completing the necessary documents. The business owner claimed to have a dedicated team of four graduates to do the task at the municipal offices, where they were stationed.

A concerned resident: “Moses Kotane is delegating their duties to a Cash n Carry while the municipality does not even mention the partnership to us. It’s happening again under the leadership of Mayor Nketu Nkotswe and Mokopane Letsoalo, the Municipal Manager of Moses Kotane, to register businesses with the help of the Cash n Carry believed to belong to someone who is an immigrant,” a concerned resident said.

The resident claimed the Cash n Carry owner is helping the municipality register the spaza shops because many of them bought their bulk stock from his business.  

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Another resident, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation, said the way the municipality was conducting the registration was flawed and it would allow more foreigners to register and own spaza shops in Moses Kotane Local Municipality.

“The municipality has officials in its LED (local economic development) department who are paid monthly salaries but we don’t know what they have been doing all along if they don’t know how many tuckshops are within the municipality.”

Moses Kotane municipal manager Mokopane Letsoalo, however, distanced the municipality from the retailer’s activities. “The municipality has embarked on a programme to register spaza shops on the database. As I respond now, the LED (local economic development) … is at Mogwase sports complex and is doing that,” Letsoalo said.

ALSO READ: Concerns grow over foreigner majority in Limpopo spaza shop registrations

He showed The Citizen a public notice issued by the municipality to the spaza shop owners, inviting them to attend a meeting on Friday at 10am at Mogwase Sports Complex in Zone 1 where the registration of spaza shops would take place.

Letsoalo said the shop owner who advertised to register spaza shops had illegally copied the municipality’s notice. “They copied our poster. We have not got into that kind of partnership,” Letsoalo said.