By Johnathan Paoli
The owners of small businesses, spaza shops and other food handling convenient stores have been reminded that they need to register their businesses by Tuesday, 17 December 2024.
This directive follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s mandate requiring all spaza shops and food-handling facilities to register with their respective municipalities within 21 days.
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints) said on Friday that businesses missing the registration window must cease operations and shut down immediately.
“The process of registration that is being undertaken does not include the whole process of licensing of a business, which is the application, review, approval and the issuance of the licence or a permit to trade.”
Explaining the process, it said applicants would receive an acknowledgement of receipt of their application, which would be followed by a process of verification and inspection by relevant units to including environmental health and the National Consumer Commission.
After registration, another process of obtaining a licence or permit to trade would take place as per municipal by-laws and other compliance requirements.
Businesses that have registered before would not be affected and another chance would be given to those who missed it.
“To support and expedite the process, a national online registration platform has now been developed through the Department of Small Business Development and will be deployed by January 2025. This means that all businesses that missed the deadline may still register online in their respective municipalities,” NatJoints confirmed.
Additionally, it said that the department would support all municipalities that did not have an online system.
“The funding criteria for the R500 million joint fund to be set up between the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and the Department of Small Business Development to support township SMMEs, including the community convenience shops, has been finalised,” it said.
NatJoints said foreign nationals could only register or apply if they had a business visa or an asylum seeker certificate. A work, study or tourist visa could not be used.
At a media briefing in Johannesburg on Wednesday, Gauteng Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile provided an update on the progress of spaza shop registrations in the province.
He said as of 10 December, 13,616 registration forms had been issued to spaza shop owners, with 1,916 forms returned.
Maile noted that some returned applications were incomplete or lacked critical supporting documents.
He further reported that 2,605 applications were submitted by non-South African spaza shop owners.
This data was drawn from the City of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, the West Rand District Municipality (comprising Merafong, Rand West City, and Mogale City Local Municipalities), and the Sedibeng District Municipality (comprising Emfuleni, Midvaal, and Lesedi Local Municipalities).
Engagements with township commercial property owners have contributed to increasing registrations.
“The registration process has been simplified to minimize red tape while ensuring compliance,” said Maile.
He added that three municipalities—City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, and City of Ekurhuleni—have digitized their application processes, with others at various stages of digital transformation
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