City of Cape Town and immigrant shop owners meet to resolve tensions over regulatory compliance

“We come unannounced not to catch you doing wrong things, but to ensure that your shop is in satisfactory hygienic condition and is documented correctly,” says Lerato Tswele, a City of Cape Town health inspector.

Tswele was speaking to a group of people, most of whom are immigrants, who run small businesses like spaza shops in Mitchells Plain. The dialogue, mediated by Africa Unite, follows recent conflict between immigrant shop owners and City officials over health and safety requirements.

According to Lelethu Sisakazi Nogwavu of Africa Unite, “City inspectors go to the immigrant shops and start fighting with them because the immigrants [store owners] don’t understand why the inspector is visiting them. We want to educate them of the legal requirements to run a business in South Africa. Immigrants told us they feel intimidated by the City but this was a misunderstanding.”

During the meeting, Tswele explained that the law gave them the authority to make unannounced visits and conduct searches to ensure businesses are compliant as stipulated by the National Health Act. All food stores must have a Certificate of Acceptability issued by the municipality and it should be visibly displayed. There should also be no smoking in the shop, she said.

“The food in your shop is for public consumption. If the food was for your family, we would not impose on you. Sometimes when we come to the shop we are told to come later or another day. That is not how we work,” she said.

Some of the issues health inspectors encountered at different businesses included people sleeping in the same space where they store food to be sold to the public, sleeping inside their ceiling, toilets in a bad condition, no ventilation, having pets in a store, and proper lighting in the shop.