By Kouthar Sambo
The deadline for registration for spaza shop owners is Friday, 28 February (2025). The spike in foodborne illnesses last year, which was attributed to spaza shops, prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to call for all spaza shops and food-handling facilities to register with their respective municipalities as a way of addressing the matter.
A political analyst, Sandile Swana, who spoke on VOC’s PM Drive show, said researched evidence revealed that the spike in foodborne illnesses resulting in the deaths of children across the country was not linked to spaza shops.
“The issue around food safety was not necessarily linked to spaza shops, but spaza shops were used as a scapegoat. Additionally, when they went a certain distance around registrations, they discovered that a bigger percentage of spaza shops were South African-owned, so they dropped the other requirements around this,” explained Swana.
*Listen to the full interview here.
Photo: @GovernmentZA/X
