Over 2 500 foreign nationals approved to run spaza shops: Hlabisa

The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Velenkosini Hlabisa says of the more than 80 000 applicants to register spaza shops, just over 2 500 foreign nationals were approved to run spaza shops.

This is contained in a written Parliamentary reply.

These figures are from when applications were received in July last year to the end of January this year.

15 528 applications were approved for owners of spaza shops who are South African citizens.

Last year, government instructed all spaza shops and informal traders selling food, to be registered following the death of several children who consumed food or snacks from such outlets.