ABOUT 13 spaza shops were closed down for non-compliance, and 30 illegal immigrants, including a minor, were arrested following the Buffalo City security cluster’s latest raids on defiant foreign shop operators in the Metro on Tuesday, 19 November.
The latest raid operations on non-compliant business operators followed a day after Buffalo City Metro (BCM) Mayor Princess Faku met with foreign shop owners to discuss compliance strategies at the East London City Hall on Monday, 18 November.
The Buffalo City multi-stakeholder joint operations were carried out in Scenery Park, Reeston, Khayelitsha, Zinyoka, and Tyutyu Village outside Qonce.
The raid operations are continuously conducted by the Metro’s security cluster, including police, BCM law enforcement, disaster management, Border Management Authority (BMA), Home Affairs’ Immigration unit, and SARS.
The aim is to enforce municipal bylaws and other compliance matters and close down all spaza shops operating illegally without valid business licences.
Municipal Services’ General Manager, Luyanda Madikizela, confirmed that the latest raid resulted in the arrest of 30 undocumented foreign nationals.
“The raid also resulted in the closure of 13 spaza shops due to non-compliance with environmental health regulations. About 30 foreign shopkeepers were arrested, including a minor, who is a Mozambican national, for failure to provide legal identification documents,” said Madikizela.
Those arrested were handed over to the Home Affairs Immigration unit for verification and processing in accordance with the Immigration Act and possible deportation.
Following the meeting with foreign shop owners, Faku established a BCM compliance and registration task team, which will be responsible for registration, implementation, and enforcement as envisaged in the standard draft bylaws for township economies.
BCM is already conducting spaza shop compliance and registration workshops in Cambridge, Gompo, Qonce, Mdantsane, Ntabozuko, and Dimbaza, which will continue throughout November, and all relevant information is available at municipal offices.
Buffalo City has recorded three deaths of children suspected of consuming expired and contaminated food products from local spaza shops.
