Soweto spaza owners back registration process
Operation Dudula members bar foreign nationals from venue
by Koena Mashale · TimesLIVEWhen the registration of spaza shops started in Soweto on Monday, local owners said they wanted to do the right thing and follow the law despite the tedious process.
Registrations at Jabulani Civic Centre were marred by chaotic scenes yesterday morning when members of Operation Dudula barred immigrant spaza shop owners from accessing the venue, claiming foreign nationals are stealing business from locals. They arrived at around 8am and illegally manned the gate, stopping and checking if cars had foreign nationals inside.
Cars driven by Pakistani, Ethiopian and Somali traders who had come to register their shops were chased away in the presence of police and amaPanyaza. Some cars were pelted with bottles.
Despite the mayhem, about 20 South African spaza shop owners were seen queuing and waiting to register.
On November 8, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced new regulations to govern spaza shops to deal with recent cases of food poisoning had been gazetted. On Friday last week he said shop owners had 21 days to have their businesses registered.
A 27-year-old South African tuck shop owner who did not want to be named said he wanted to get his papers in order. He said he did not care what foreign nationals had to do to be registered.
The man inherited his shop from his late mother.
“My mother died two years ago and I want to make sure I keep it running because it feeds us at home. What or who else is in the community, I don’t care. I don’t care iv a shop is run by a foreign national as long as we are all following the law. "
He had been in the queue since 7.30am when Sowetan met him in the afternoon.
“The economy in townships needs to thrive but everyone is against foreign nationals and that’s not right. We all want the same thing [businesses] at the end of the day,” he said.
Johannes Khoza, 60, a street vendor for three years, said he wanted to do the right thing and not get involved in food poisoning cases.
“This whole thing [registration] is a long process. We are not the ones who are poisoning the kids with sweets and this is impacting us badly. My family depends on me.
“I have a wife and two grandchildren who look to me for food and this process is standing in the way. What’s worse is that we’re not being assisted. We have been standing here since 8am and no one has helped us,” Khoza said.
Richard Mchunu, 53, has owned a tuck shop for 15 years. He said the process to register is painful but is needed.
“This is very tough for us. The government likes doing things without really thinking how it’s going to affect us, and it’s clear in the process they are taking us through.
“We have heard the government say they want us to register, and we have come out in numbers, but nobody has come to speak to us about what to do and we are going to leave not knowing what the next step is," Mchunu said, adding he looked forward to legitimising his business.
Africa Diaspora Community chairperson Amir Sheik said registration was smooth throughout KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, except in Jabulani.
“The rest of the areas in Gauteng and KZN have not reported problems. We haven’t received any calls where our members were turned away because of lack of documentation or Operation Dudula or other populist right-wing political parties who are misinterpreting the president’s speech,” Sheik said.
He said the registration process is tedious and the stipulated 21 days to register it is not enough and was impractical. He said they started educating their members about the registration process last week.
“The only limitations we see are the 21 days, the government's red tape and Operation Dudula. These will hinder many of our members from getting the right documentation within 21 days. But they will, and we will assist them to abide by the presidential decree."