The City of Tshwane is taking a strong stance against illegally operated spaza shops selling expired goods, particularly after recent child fatalities linked to consuming snacks from these outlets.
Community Safety MMC Hannes Coetzee vowed to protect children by intensifying inspections, saying: "Safety comes first".
A recent raid in Eersterust resulted in a spaza shop closure due to illegal power grid connection, expired goods, and non-compliance with health standards.
Coetzee expressed the intention to deal with illegal practices in spaza shops following an Eersterust raid with the Tshwane metro police.
He said: “We are going to continue to other spaza shops; we need to make sure that our children are safe. The reason why we are doing this is that safety comes first.”
The renewed campaign by the municipality to inspect local spaza shops follows recent deaths of children who consumed snacks from the business outlets.
“We closed the shop down because of expired goods. We cannot allow that to continue,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Eugene Modise revealed the store's outstanding municipal bill of R350,000 and arrested employees without legal documents.
“The occupants were not supposed to be here because this is a residential area and they are sleeping in the store,” he said.
Some of the store employees were arrested because they didn’t have legal documents to be in the country.
Modise said it was for the third time the store was closed for being on the wrong side of the law by illegally connecting to the power grid.
Health MMC Tshegofatso Mashabela emphasised the severity of the issue, labelling non-compliant spaza shops as "mafia states" with inadequate product labelling and potentially harmful goods.
She said: “They are operating illegally and running what can be described as a mafia. In terms of the products that are here they don’t even have the manufacturers’ date. They only have a lifespan of two years.”
Some chicken braai packs, she said, were said to be due for expiry in 2025.
In a separate raid, the Lotus Gardens, Atteridgeville and Saulsville Civic Association under its leader Tshepo Mahlangu and the Tshwane metro police closed down four spaza shops in Lotus Gardens for operating illegally.
Mahlangu said: “We are calling for the communities to refrain from supporting the spaza shops operated by these undocumented and illegal foreigners. We can't subject our children to being guinea pigs or some sort of experiment by continually buying from these shops.”
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