A woman and her husband have found themselves in hot water after allegedly trying to present forged registration documents to Buffalo City Metro authorities on the final day of the spaza shops registration drive.
While spaza shop owners were rushing to meet the late Tuesday registration deadline, the woman was nabbed by BCM law enforcement.
However, her husband managed to evade arrest by fleeing as officials closed in.
Authorities are now looking for the man, believed to be operating a food-selling business in one of Mdantsane’s popular supermarkets in NU14.
The arrest was confirmed late on Tuesday by BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya, who said the fraudulent documents were spotted by metro officials as the volume of applications for spaza shop registrations increased on Tuesday.
“A couple arrived to register for business licences at the metro’s local economic development offices in the fire department in East London’s Fleet Street.
“The Ethiopian couple, who operate a food-selling outlet in Mdantsane, produced two documents, a certificate of compliance and a certificate of acceptability on food premises, but both documents [allegedly] had fraudulent signatures and stamps.
“When officials picked this up, they alerted law enforcement and health officials, who rushed to the scene but unfortunately the husband escaped, leaving the wife behind,” Ngwenya said.
The Dispatch has seen the copies of the alleged fake certificate of acceptability for food premises and certificate of fire compliance, both dated December 12.
The woman was handed over to police at the Fleet Street police station where a fraud case was being registered at the time of writing late on Tuesday.
Their names are known to the Dispatch but they cannot be identified until they have appeared in court.
“With long queues of applicants since Friday, and despite working under severe pressure, we commend our officials who remained vigilant and were able to pick up the transgression,” Ngwenya said.
He urged the husband to hand himself over to law enforcement agencies.
The arrest came as many spaza shop owners scrambled to register their businesses and have them declared compliant. Many pleaded for an extension of the national registration deadline, which ended on Tuesday.
Ngwenya said on Tuesday that the volume of applications was on the rise.
This was in stark contrast to the situation on Friday, when only 77 business licence applications were processed. The number was a far cry from the 1,600 applications BCM had expected when President Cyril Ramaphosa first made the registration deadline announcement.
On Tuesday, Ngwenya provided figures up to December 12, saying the city’s municipal health services unit had received 939 applications for certificates of acceptability permits, with 103 having been issued already and 836 pending.
He said the city’s local economic development unit had also received 61 applications for business licences, with 59 already issued.
For fire competence certificates, Ngwenya said, 817 applications had been received, 290 issued and 527 still pending processing and approval.
• Mnquma law enforcement officers on Tuesday shut down a Spar supermarket in Butterworth after its shelves were allegedly found to contain expired cool drinks and household cleaning products, dating back to 2020.
This was revealed by municipal spokesperson Loyiso Mpalantshane late on Tuesday. He said the store was also issued a fine.
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