The Rebopane Enterprise in Naledi, Soweto on 4 October 2023. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
Foreign spaza shop owners expressed their concerns about being turned away from different municipalities when trying to register their establishments, according to the African Diaspora Forum (ADF).
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa issued an instruction last week that all spaza shops in the country should be registered within 21 days.
Amir Shaikh, chairperson of the forum, told The Citizen on Wednesday that he received complaints from the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Ethiopian communities.
“Some municipalities came up with excuses and told them they are prioritising South Africans.
“The president did not say that the municipalities should deal with South Africans first,” Shaikh said.
He said in some instances foreign shop owners without a permanent residence were also turned away.
“This is discriminatory and there’s a lot of red tape to obtain some documents,” he said.
ALSO READ: Residents want ban on foreigners running spaza shops
Shaikh said some shop owners were intimidated when trying to register their shops in Soweto.
He said this was unfortunate and was meant to discourage foreign shop owners from registering their shops.
“Some community organisations are misinforming people by telling them that spaza shops are meant for South Africans. Their stance is that no foreigners should register,” he said.
Shaikh said he will have a town hall meeting with the foreign spaza shop owners on Wednesday in Johannesburg to come up with some solutions to these challenges.
Furthermore, the MEC of Economic Development in Gauteng, Lebogang Maile, told the media on Tuesday that he met with different municipalities in the province to ensure that the registration of spaza shops is on track.
However, he said the province would request police presence at different registration points where foreign nationals were registering their shops.
He was referring to the presence of Operation Dudula members at some registration points.
“We will urge communities to be tolerant towards each other and avoid violence if they have objections against any matter,” he said.
He also warned South Africans to avoid breaking the law by registering spaza shops for foreign nationals.
He went on to say that the eligibility of a business visa is that foreign nationals must invest a prescribed amount of about R5 million into an existing business or provide a business plan with evidence of R5 million capital contribution. “Then only can foreign nationals establish a business which is of national interest to South Africa.”
Meanwhile, African Transformation Movement (ATM) president Vuyo Zungula told The Citizen on Wednesday that the government should investigate the business model of foreign-owned spaza shops.
He said there are reports that the foreign-owned spaza shops could be linked to crimes such as human trafficking and the funding of terrorist groups on the continent.
“Somalians and Ethiopians are found trafficked into the country. They are kept in one house. This shows the amount of criminal activity, because after coming into the country they manage to open a shop,” he said.
He said he was also concerned about reports that foreign spaza shops manufacture fake products such as soft drinks and other household goods.
Zungula has written to the Public Protector (PP) to investigate the takeover of spaza shops by foreign nationals.
“People say these people are asylum seekers. However, they are not. There is evidence that they are actually economic refugees. This entire sector is premised on illegality,” he said.
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