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A West Bank warehouse and several Cambridge township spaza shops allegedly operating without proper documentation were shut down on Wednesday as Buffalo City (East London) ramped up efforts to clamp down on illegal businesses.
The Dispatch team joined officials who entered the warehouse where women were sewing curtains. There were stacked rows of suitcases and more were being assembled by a worker.
Metro officials confiscated products such as body lotions, toothpaste and bleaching creams suspected to be counterfeit.
The warehouse was divided into a ground floor and an allegedly unsafe first floor made of wooden planks.
On the ground floor, space was occupied by crammed boxes of products believed to be supplied to spaza shops in the city.
The team then moved to Cambridge township where several undocumented foreigners were found and shops were closed down as they could not provide compliance documents.
Mayor Princess Faku, who led the raids, said: “The food sold to our people has expired and the shops are noncompliant.
“We are getting more information [even the one we raided] from people and we thank communities for supporting us.”
Last week, police raids led by Faku swept through Buffalo City Metro on Thursday, leaving more than two dozen businesses closed for noncompliance with trading laws and selling counterfeit or illegal goods.
Twelve shop owners were arrested while 12 spaza shops and 14 salons were found to be operating without fire certificates. Twenty-six businesses have been closed so far.
In Cambridge, hundreds of community members were gathered in the streets saying the metro should continue raiding and ensure offenders are brought to book.
Nomthetho Maliwa said: “I am glad they have stepped into our township to raid here. Seeing cases being reported frequently is scary because we have children.
“Even if you do not give a child money, they can easily share with another child who bought a snack from the shops.”
Maliwa said they hoped there would be frequent raids to ensure products being sold at shops met standards.
Siphokuhle Bala said the community had been rocked by the recent spate of [poisoning] cases in the news.
“They [shops] are the only ones closest to our homes, especially when one needs to buy everyday products that include bread and other essentials,” she said.
“We are now forced to go to supermarkets because we do not want to find ourselves falling sick or even dying.”
DispatchLIVE
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