By Johnathan Paoli
Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza has urged South African small business owners to comply with municipal bylaws and formalise their operations, warning that failure to do so not only places communities at risk but also prevents entrepreneurs from accessing government support aimed at growing township economies.
The mayor was speaking on Wednesday during a multi-departmental compliance blitz targeting spaza shops, wholesalers, informal traders and residential business operations in Vosloorus and Katlehong.
The operation involved officials from the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department, Economic Development, Environmental Health, Building Control, Home Affairs immigration services and the South African Police Service.
“It’s a big operation. We are ramping up the operation to ensure that there are bylaws across. We are here in Vosloorus, you can see this is a trading informal arrangement. It’s an informal economy, it’s an economy that we support,” Xhakaza said.
The mayor said the city’s intention was not to shut down township businesses indiscriminately, but to ensure compliance and protect residents from dangerous and unlawful practices.
During the operation, city officials issued non-compliance notices to several businesses, including South African-owned enterprises found to be trading in gas and flammable materials without the necessary approvals.
“You know there’s two young stars here who are South Africans who are operating, but we unfortunately have to issue them with non-compliance certificates because they are trading in gas and flammables,” Xhakaza said.
“What does it mean for this community if you are using flammable things here without proper certificates, without the fire department being aware and all the necessary installation? What happens if there’s an explosion? A lot of this community will be affected and we will be expected to answer.”
The mayor raised concerns about landlords illegally converting residential properties into commercial hubs and overcrowded rental accommodation without municipal approval.
“We have to issue them with a notice. The house is not zoned for business, it’s a residential house. He [the landlord] has built about 16 rooms, he collects more than R32,000 on rentals, but he’s not paying anything to the municipality. He’s using water, he’s using all those things. We must enforce compliance,” he said.
Xhakaza said entrepreneurs needed to regularise their operations if they wanted access to municipal business support programmes.
“We are having workshops at the Vosloorus Civic Centre where our teams are giving empowerment, to say how do you regularise, how do you make sure that you are compliant so that you can qualify for business support,” he said.
The mayor also encouraged local traders to work together to improve buying power and compete effectively.
“One of the problems is that foreign national shops are fully stocked up. South African shops don’t have stock and that’s what makes them attractive on price. We must encourage those who are in business to work together, formalise yourselves so that it is easy to have buying power,” he said.
As part of the operation, the city shut down Vosloorus Cash and Carry after officials identified several alleged bylaw violations.
The foreign-owned business was issued with notices relating to Building Control and Land Use contraventions, while authorities confiscated the business licence and Certificate of Acceptability.
Owners were given 28 days to comply or face possible fines and demolition of illegal structures.
Xhakaza later explained that environmental health concerns had also contributed to the closure.
“The packaging is a food safety requirement that they are not meeting. You can’t mix up your foodstuff with rat poison. All the packaging they’ve done, they have not labelled. You don’t know what is the expiry date. That is why we are closing them. They’ll have to ensure that the packaging is done properly before they can reopen,” he said.
Meanwhile, MMC for Metro Trading Utilities Jean Sthato said several undocumented individuals and suspects allegedly carrying fraudulent documentation were arrested during the blitz.
“We found that especially the shops that are run by Somalis, Ethiopians and so on, all of them have the same papers saying they are studying. When you ask where they are studying, they can’t tell us. We can’t have a lawless country. Even myself, I’m afraid to jump a stop sign, then someone can just come here and fraud papers,” Sthato said.
He further claimed some undocumented individuals appeared “highly comfortable” around law enforcement officials and called for broader investigations into possible syndicates operating in the area.
Meanwhile, Xolani Khumalo conducted his own campaign tour of spaza shops in Germiston CBD, where he met South African business owners and renewed ActionSA’s call for tighter regulation of the sector.
Khumalo said if elected mayor in November, his administration’s “first order” would be a full audit of all foreign-owned spaza shops in Ekurhuleni.
“We will not allow our township economy to be captured through fake certificates and corrupt shortcuts,” he said.
The compliance operation comes amid growing tensions in parts of Ekurhuleni over undocumented migrants and foreign-owned spaza shops, with residents in Katlehong and surrounding townships demanding stricter enforcement and regulation.
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