With the registration deadline looming for small businesses, spaza shops and other food-handling convenience stores, government warned owners that if they missed the registration window their businesses would be closed.

Owners are urged to register their businesses by the December 17 deadline.

As part of government’s response to address foodborne illnesses that have claimed the lives of children across the country, last month President Cyril Ramaphosa said all spaza shops and food-handling facilities must register with their respective municipalities.

Government explained that this undertaking did not include the whole process of licensing a business, which included the application, review, approval and the issuance of the licence or a permit to trade.

It highlighted that following the current process of registration, applicants were expected to receive an acknowledgement of receipt of their application.

“…this will then be followed by a process of verification and inspection by relevant units such as Environmental Health, National Consumer Commission,” it explained.

Once a business is registered within the prescribed period of 21 days, government stated that a further process to obtain a licence or permit to trade would be undertaken as per municipal by-laws and other compliance requirements.

Businesses with valid business licences or permits to trade did not need to re-register.

Government emphasised that foreign nationals could only register or apply for a business licence if they had a business visa, an asylum seeker certificate or a refugee certificate.

Furthermore, a foreign national with a work, study or tourist visa was not permitted to apply for a business licence or operate a business in the country, it added.

Government said South Africans who were landlords, were also prohibited by law, from registering businesses on behalf of illegal foreign nationals.

“Any South African who has been found to have fraudulently registered a business on behalf of an illegal foreign national will face the might of the law,” it warned.

Meanwhile, government announced that to support and expedite the process, a national online registration platform had now been developed through the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) and would be deployed by January 2025.

“This means that all businesses that missed the deadline may still register online in their respective municipalities,” it said.

Government highlighted that the window period for applications would be opened after the 21-day registration deadline, and a guide for eligible applicants would be uploaded on the DSBD website.

The categories of eligible South African business owners have been uploaded on the website of the DSBD.