All spaza and informal shops across the country had until last Friday (28 February) to apply for permits to operate at their local municipalities.
This comes after the national Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs declared a national disaster after an increase was seen in food-borne illnesses late last year, as a result of non-compliance to hygienic and safety practices.
The call for registration comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa put an instruction out on 15 November, which all spaza and informal shops should be registered within in 21 days. The deadline for registrations has been extended more than once.
Before the deadline was extended last year Paarl Post enquired about spaza shops within the Drakenstein municipal area. Seraj Johaar, Drakenstein’s Executive Director of Corporate and Planning Services, said that at the time that 139 spaza shops complied with the municipality’s existing land-use planning legal instruments.
He said the municipality’s main focus is to protect the health and safety of the public.
“The municipality has a by-law and two policies in place that govern the spaza/house shop and informal trading space. In addition, spaza and house-shop owners need to comply with numerous other local, provincial and national laws.
“Drakenstein Municipality, together with other organs of state, in compliance with the disaster declaration, will strengthen its support and interventions to assist national government to manage this disaster and ensure the safety of our residents.”
This week Johaar confirmed that the municipality received 357 spaza shop applications – Paarl (160); Wellington (81); Simondium (0); Saron (28); Gouda (15); Hermon (0); and Mbekweni (73). These are spaza shops situated in non-informal areas. They have received an additional 80 spaza shop applications from informal areas within the municipal area.
“The municipality is currently in the process of drafting and adopting an informal economy by-law that will include public participation. Only after this by-law has been adopted will the applications be further processed.”
