MEC calls for foreign shop vetting

Gauteng MEC for economic development Lebogang Maile has called for foreign-owned shops to be vetted in a bid to end criminality in townships.

Maile visited the township a day after violence broke out, which led to about 200 shops being vandalised and looted.

Three people were killed as residents went on the rampage, claiming that foreign-owned spaza shops were selling counterfeit and expired goods. According to the police 27 people were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday.

Maile was speaking to the media at Moroka police station in Soweto before visiting some of the foreign-owned spazas that were closed down as a result of looting.

“There must be a process to vet all these people, a process of quantifying how many tuck shops are there and who is running those tuck shops.

“The process is in motion and we are finalising it. We just want to make sure that we have a credible list,” Maile said.

Residents should desist from taking matters into their own hands, even though he agreed with their calls to bring an end to the selling of fake and expired goods, he said. “It is a serious issue that needs to be attended to by authorities and those who are entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring what shops are selling, must explain how they allowed this to get out of hand,” Maile said.

Dozens of displaced Ethiopian and Somali nationals were at Moroka police station, counting their losses and threatening to return to their countries.