Government has announced that municipalities in all nine provinces around the country have registered 82 000 spaza shops.
It has stressed that traders must ensure they meet the licensing requirements to achieve compliance, in order to access the R500-million Spaza Shop Support Fund.
The fund was established in 2024 following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for the regulation and formalisation of spaza shops.
This was in response to concerns around food safety, illicit trade and public health.
Director-General of government’s Small Business Development ministry, Thulisile Manzini says financial support to the value of R179-million for qualifying South African-owned spaza shops has already been approved across all nine provinces.
“Spaza shop owners are therefore required to secure trading permits or licences through their respective municipalities to achieve full compliance and funding opportunities.”
He added that a number of factors were responsible for gaps within the licensing environment.
“Systemic challenges within the licensing environment, including municipal backlogs due to manual processes, shortages of environmental health practices, all of which are required for inspection and certificates of acceptabilities.”
Other factors include complex zoning requirements, high compliance costs and verification challenges, such as discrepancies in ownership and non-operational businesses.
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