Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

2-minute read
12 November 2023 | 12:22 CAT

Image: News24

The recent increase in the spaza shops’ complaints and developments around the selling of expired goods has sparked the interest of the government, and they intend to resolve the problem by potentially having audits put in place, as well as having traditional leaders and municipalities keep records of foreign nationals in their communities.

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Monday that the Cabinet was concerned about the rise in the number of reports of children being poisoned by consuming allegedly contaminated food from spaza shops, sometimes leading to death.

However, the link between the illness or death of children and food from spaza shops has not yet been proven.

The government wants to introduce “omnibus by-laws” to strengthen the hand of municipalities and traditional leaders in enforcing business by-laws.

It includes the inspection of spaza shops by inspection teams from labour, health, business development and home affairs.

Another enforcement effort is to audit spaza shops in villages and townships by registering them with municipalities and traditional leaders, Ntshavheni said.

However, this is being met with extreme concern by human rights groups.

‘If it’s only targeting spaza shops that are owned by foreign nationals, then it’s unlawful, it’s unconstitutional, and it will be challenged based on discrimination,’ says Sharon Ekambaram, head of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme at Lawyers for Human Rights.

“There should be standards for everyone to comply. It can’t be only for foreign nationals. We can’t have laws that simply target them because that is racist and xenophobic, and goes against our constitutional values. Laws and concerns around the selling of expired food should be a concern for every business, even supermarkets, not just foreign-owned spaza shops.”

Ekambaram added that allowing traditional leaders to keep lists of foreigners was illegal, and several court judgments pointed to its illegality.

Listen to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Annisa Essack.