Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has issued a stern warning to individuals he described as “citizens who want to sell out the country” by registering spaza shops on behalf of foreigners.
“I dare those South Africans that they can abuse our kindness and sell out our country by giving other people that are not properly registered to be our country to operate our business will regret the day they agreed to that arrangement,” he said.
Lesufi emphasised that local business is the economic freedom for citizens who try to make ends meet.
“We want those that think that they can go through the system and assist people who are not South Africans to try their luck. I can assure you they will regret it,” he said.
He briefed the media on Wednesday on his government’s work on the state of health care provision, approach to food and safety emergency response, progress on the Gauteng-Limpopo High-Speed Rail Link Project, and status of Non-Profit Organisations funding.
With regards to spaza shops, Lesufi said the machines that they would be using to register people’s businesses are watertight and would not miss any name.
“We know what you are looking for, we know the database, that we know, I mean you can’t claim to have had a business in the last three years and when we go to the South African receiver revenue database we have not filed,” he said.
He said they would also use other means to process the information.
He maintained that people who would try to help foreigners would face harsh consequences.
“I challenge those that think that they can betray South Africans and use their hard fought freedom and abuse it by allocating responsibility to foreign sponsors.
“I repeat they will regret why they’ve taken this particular route,” he added.
This issue was fuelled by reports of the 22 children who died after eating food items bought from the local shops.
Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa urged spaza shop owners to apply to register their businesses within 21 days.
The registration process is under way across the province.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
IOL Politics