4 500 Spaza Shop Registrations Returned, 541 Closed: Gauteng Mec

Gauteng Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile says of the more than 13 600 registration forms issued to spaza shops, just over 4 500 have been returned as of Tuesday.

Maile was giving an update on the ongoing registration of spaza shops across Gauteng. This as the 21-day deadline as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last month comes to an end on Friday.

Maile says during this period about 541 spaza shops were closed for non-compliance.

The registration process has been simplified to ensure that business owners are not consumed by red tape, while simultaneously ensuring that compliance is achieved. Additionally, three municipalities the City of Johannesburg, the City of Tshwane and the City of Ekurhuleni have digitised their application process, while other municipalities are in various stages of the digitisation of the process. This is happening alongside the process of municipalities establishing by-laws on spaza shop ownership. Present municipalities are adopting the draft model standard by-law.

Maile says the extension of the registration process depends entirely on the President. He adds that the Friday deadline remains.