Ramaphosa warns against residents closing foreign-owned spaza shops

President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned people not to take the law into their own hands.

Residents of Orlando East recently shut down several spaza shops owned by foreigners in Soweto. The shutdowns were sparked by a surge in food-borne illnesses and a desire to reclaim the township economy for locals.

Speaking at an ANC event in Thabazimbi, Limpopo, on Sunday, Ramaphosa cautioned against wrong actions. 

“We call on our people not to take the law into their own hands. The law can burn you. Co-operate with law enforcement agencies, point them in the right direction and they are the ones who must take action. Otherwise you will face consequences needlessly when you work outside the law. We want people to work within the law,” he said.

“As government, we don’t encourage people to take the law into their own hands. The government has its structures that have the authority to work within the law and deal with issues such as this.

“When we made this announcement, we said government officials, through their various agencies, are the ones who will go from shop to shop checking whether they are registered.”

Ramaphosa’s warning follows his announcement on November 15 in which he declared the closure of spaza shops implicated in food poisoning deaths. He also gave spaza shop owners 21 days to register their businesses.

He said authorities had started closing down “suspicious” spaza shops.

“What we have done is legalise those that meet regulations and conditions. Those that don’t meet the standards and don’t comply will be closed. We’ve already started closing a number of spaza shops, particularly those that have suspicious storage facilities and sell suspicious foods. Those are being closed.”

The president also warned against individuals who registered spaza shops on behalf of others.

“We’ve realised there is some crookery going on, where people are using other individuals to register when they themselves are not eligible. We are going to look into that.”

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