Police arrest shopkeeper for trading without a permit

On Saturday, police arrested a shopkeeper and temporarily shut down a small grocery shop in Lakeside, Cape Town, for trading without a permit during the national lockdown.

The man was released the later in the day, and the shop reopened on Monday after receiving a permit from the government.

The government announced last week that all small shops must have a trading permit if they want to stay open during the lockdown.

Abu Hanif Jakir Dhali, the owner of Phillips Fruiterers, said he was not aware that you had to have a permit in order to stay open.

Jakir Dhali said that SAPS visited the store on Saturday afternoon to check if they had a trading permit and when it became clear that they did not have one, the shopkeeper was arrested and the shop was closed.

Captain Knapp from Muizenberg Police Station confirmed that an arrest had been made under the Disaster Management Act for trading without a permit. Knapp said the shopkeeper was released on a warning, and is due to appear in court after the lockdown.

Jakir Dhali said that after the shop was shut down, authorities informed him that he needed to apply for a permit online if they wanted to open the shop during the lockdown. He said that he received the permit “soon after applying” and was able to reopen the shop on Monday.

Republished from GroundUp

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