Limpopo spaza shop owners warned against operating without papers

The Limpopo Department of Economic Development has issued a warning to spaza shop owners in the province, cautioning them against continued operations without proper registration.

As from Friday all unlicensed spaza shops will be expected to close down their businesses.

Registration of Spaza shops has been ongoing since the 14th of November 2024, with 22 local municipalities in the province designated as licensing centres.

Nearly 6,000 applications have been made in Limpopo.

Department spokesperson, Hitekani Magwedze has cautioned residents against fronting.

“Over 4800 spaza shops or businesses that have been approved for operation. Of the number of applicants, we had about 484 who were foreign nationals applying to participate in small businesses in our communities.

Of the 484 we have four approved foreign nationals. We have had situations where people loan out the business certificates or the approved paperwork to run businesses or spaza shops in the past. We want to warn our South Africans [citizens] not to do that. That is illegal, that is fraud,” says Magwedze.