While 43,049 spaza owners have so far applied to register their businesses, most of the 560 spaza shops that were closed by the government late in 2024 have reopened.
Last month, co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Velenkosini Hlabisa said 1,041 unregistered spazas had been shut down within a month after the deaths of 38 children and three adults from consuming food contaminated with pesticide.
However, the department of small business development said this week that 560 shops were closed but had been allowed to reopen and operate until February 28, the deadline for all shops to be registered.
“If they fail to register by the deadline, they will be closed down permanently,” spokesperson Siphe Macanda said. He confirmed that 43,049 shops had already registered.
The spate of deaths began in Naledi, Soweto, when six children died after eating food from a spaza shop. Tests revealed that the food was contaminated with a highly toxic organophosphate known as Terbufos, commonly used to kill pests in spaza shops.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi subsequently banned the use of Terbufos by unregistered vendors. Only those approved by the department of agriculture are allowed to sell it, and users must have a licence for it.
A man who rented his premises out as a spaza shop in Naledi said his business had tanked since the incident.
“One day I was a landlord with a business I rented out, now I am nothing. After the shop was closed down, the tenant fled,” said the man, who did not want to be named.
“He is from Ethiopia. He has never been back here since the day he left. I spoke to him once on a number that is not working now. He said he is never coming back to Soweto. He is too scared of the community.”
He was referring to the anti-foreigner sentiment that gripped some areas when the spate of poisonings occurred.
Steady income
A few doors down a brightly refreshed lime green spaza stood out, with freshly painted walls, brand-new shelves and neatly stacked stock.
Owner Sello Mokhethi, 47, is now the operator.
“I had tenants from Limpopo, Shangaan people. But after the trouble they fled, leaving me to fight on my own,” Mokhethi said.
In the past he had made a steady income from his building’s rental.
‘The Shangaan people were giving me R3,000 a month. This allowed me to do piece jobs at a tavern for another R2,500 a month. With them gone I now run the shop on my own. Most days I work from 6am to 10pm and will sell between R50 and R100.
“Everybody is scared to buy from a spaza. Instead of punishing all of us for something a few people did, the government must help us to uplift quality and standards and then spread the word.”
A few blocks away, a South African woman who owns a building housing a spaza shares Mokhethi’s frustrations.
“We are all uncertain. I own the spaza building and the house behind. There is a man renting now, from Bangladesh. The police were here but they never closed him down. He said he did apply to register but I cannot guarantee that,” the woman said.
“Our lease is expiring soon. How do I sign a new lease if I don’t know if my tenant will be here next week?”
Also in Naledi, spaza owner Lebogang Masilo said his spaza was closed in September.
“Right after the incident my shop was also closed for testing but they found nothing. I knew they would find no poison because we don’t use any. Our shop has a cat.”
The Sunday Times visited Naledi, Moletsane, Tladi, Zola, Jabulani and Zondi, but found very few closed spazas.
In Diepsloot an Ethiopian former spaza owner did not want to be identified but grudgingly answered some questions.
“My shop was closed because I am not here legally, so I cannot register. I was home for the holiday when the registering started and when I came back my shop was closed.”
A few blocks away, spaza shop owner Lindiwe Zondi, 60, said she had owned the shop for a few years.
“We built the spaza in 2016. I am from South Africa but Somali are now renting from me. I get about R3,000 a month,” Zondi said.
They were not closed down.
“The police are here often and when I ask the Somali what they want he just says they were here to check his paperwork.”
She also has a lease problem.
“Our three-year lease ended last year, so now I am the one with all the risk if something goes wrong.”
A Somali shop owner, who asked not to be named, said: “I have been working in Diepsloot for five years. Business is bad because people now think we sell poison or expired food. We buy all our stock from big commercial shops.”
For now, he is operational.
“We are trying to register. It is just very confusing and difficult, but we have no other choice if we want to survive.”
Neither the Gauteng provincial government, nor the police or the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs could provide figures on closed spaza shops that have reopened.
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