The due date for spaza shop registrations was today, and hundreds of Soweto spaza shop owners were scrambling to meet the deadline to have their shops registered by the end of business. Late last year, the government cracked down on spaza shops, implementing strict measures following the deaths of over 20 children across the country. The children's deaths were linked to toxic snacks that they consumed after allegedly buying them from foreign-owned spaza shops.

SPAZA OWNER DIDN'T KNOW OF REGISTRATION FEES

With the deadline of five months, many Soweto business owners only attempted to register their businesses today, also making the grim discovery that they have to pay for the registration. Sithembile Mbatha said she knew nothing about paying for registration. "I know that it's been going on for months, but I only came today, thinking that I was going to do this and finish today. Little did I know that I had to bring this money."

THERE WAS A LOT TO DO

Business owners flooded the Jabulani Civic Centre in Soweto with hopes to finalise the registration process. Another business owner said he was aware of all the registration processes that were required, but a lot needed to be done. Abdul Mohammed, who owns a spaza shop in White City, said he had no chance to register previously because he had to run his shop, but as the deadline loomed, he was forced to make time today. "I came across some challenges because of the zoning certificate. You have to get it from your local municipality, but from Dobsonville Civic Centre, you can't get that, so they sent us here to get it," he said. The government has emphasised that there will not be any further extensions for the registrations. Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile expressed concern over those who did not heed the call to register, thinking they wouldn't get caught. "Because they think they will not be caught or they just don't qualify, they are doing illegal things. And that is why we must do outreach programmes so that we go out to verify, and once we have this information, we will be able to ensure that we get as much information as possible," Maile said.