The South African Union of Spaza Shops has urged citizens not to rent out their premises or garages to spaza shops.
Some residents of Mangaung in Bloemfontein have been renting their homes to foreigners for decades.
They complain that their tenants ultimately control them.
About 127 students from across the province received medical attention this week for suspected food poisoning.
The recent incidents have caused dissatisfaction Mangaung residents will close most foreign-owned stores and some warehouses in Bloemfontein.
Twenty-nine people arrested for public violence following the looting of some spaza shops in Mangaung are expected to appear in court next week.
The provincial chairman of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tshepo Matsaba, says they had previously warned the government about unregulated businesses.
“As a country we have been deeply negligent when it comes to allowing people, who have no right to be in this country, to sell food to the most vulnerable members of society, who have no choice but to to buy things and because they can do whatever they want. wish. No one is monitoring what they do, what they sell and how they sell it. They can do all these things and make cuts,” Matsaba added.
“What we’re saying now is that when we hit the reset button, we have to say, look, all these people that are here have to vacate our locations. Because a society that is not in control of its own economy will then be subjected to this kind of nonsense that we see in our locations. So what we’re saying is: let’s take back our power, take back our economy and ensure that our people can serve the communities in which they live. There is a reason why they have decided to infiltrate and enter the informal sector, because it is very unregulated, they can do whatever they want,” he explains.
Those who rent out their spaces for spaza shops say it has been a difficult journey.
“We had a very bad experience when we rented the store to these foreigners. It’s been years since they’ve stayed here, but where they’re staying now, they’re happy to stay on their own terms. They don’t want to accept what we as owners of the place tell them. So we finally asked them if they had papers, but they told us there is no law in South Africa, why would we want papers.”
“They say they want to pay rent, they would tell us that we don’t make any money, but we can still see here how many customers they have. So in the end we were not on good terms and we said no to them, because you don’t want to listen to us, you want to control us in our space, then it’s better that you leave. It’s like they’re bitter when you drive them away.”
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