Unregistered pesticides, mouldy food, lack of hygiene and missing certificates are some of the findings that led to the closure of three shops by the Ekurhuleni metro police department (EMPD) in Kempton Park on Wednesday.
The three are among seven that the EMPD raided and inspected after the deadline to register spaza shops ended on Friday.
In one of the shops they closed, the metro police found that the certificate of acceptability (COA) was not on the premises. Neither was the shop owner available.
Upon arrival at Value Market in the CBD, inspectors and the EMPD officers found one employee locked behind burglar bars. He said he had no means of coming out as he did not have the key to the shop.
When asked for the COA, he claimed that the owner of the shop had just left with the document.
One of the inspectors on the ground, however, said the store could not operate without the COA being on the premises.
"They call the liquid or product 'Dubula Zonke', which obviously alludes to the purpose that it kills everything... your insects, bugs, everything.
— Officer
The officer also found that the shop sells pesticides that were neither registered nor recognised in the country.
"They call the liquid or product 'Dubula Zonke', which obviously alludes to the purpose that it kills everything... your insects, bugs, everything. The problem is that not only does this seem to be a new product but we don't know what exactly the mixtures for this liquid are, and we have to send it to the labs. So we are confiscating the bottles and sachets," she said.
The employee was also asked where the shop's other employee, a Malawian national, was.
"He ran out when he saw you guys," said the man.
The inspectors also confiscated wors that did not have the address of manufacturer as well as non-labelled bread and open sachets of chicken breasts and sausages.
Police later told the man that the shop would have to be shut down. However, the employee said he could not get out from behind the counter as he was locked in and did not have the key. They locked him inside the shop.
The officers then went to another shop nearby, where they found that it had been partitioned with cardboard. One side of the shop is where the groceries are, while the other side is where four people sleep, bath, cook and go to the toilet.
They also found unregistered pesticide, which they confiscated, as well a barrel of paraffin which was stationed near the groceries. They confiscated it too.
"You're not allowed to sleep, go to the toilet and bath in the same place where you operate, did you know that? EMPD spokesperson Deliwe Ndlovu asked the people she found in the shop.
The shop was given a notice valid for seven days, and the four people inside were told to clean it as the officers found it dirty. The officers confiscated the mouldy scones they found in the shop.
The last shop was still in the process of obtaining the COA, as the owner is currently in the process of changing the zoning certificate.
"The zoning certificate tells us what the land is being used for, what exactly they're doing with the land. So currently, they have a residential zoning certificate and they need a business certificate. So they are trading in the incorrect zoning area," one of the inspectors said.
The shop was also shut down.
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