There is going to be no further extension for late submission of applications for small businesses beyond the Friday deadline, said Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa.

Hlabisa conveyed the message while interacting with informal traders who were submitting their applications at the City of Tshwane’s registration centre in the inner-city on Thursday.

He warned that failure to submit applications by the Friday deadline will result in illegal operation status as of March 1.

“There will be no extension tomorrow (Friday). We are not going to make any recommendation to the president. There was enough time for people to register from the extension made in December up to tomorrow,” Hlabisa said.

He, however, said that applicants with outstanding documents can still submit them after the deadline.

“There is no need to see our people being arrested because they are breaking the law. If you are interested in this business, please comply. If you can’t do it by the end of the day tomorrow, close down and concentrate on the application process. It can take you only a day or two,” he said.

He praised the Tshwane metro for its efficient registration process, which included a convenient online portal for virtual submissions.

“Tshwane metro is one of the municipalities in South Africa which heeded the call to regularise the small businesses in townships and the economies that are controlled by small businesses in our towns and rural communities in other places. They have done very well,” he said.

He highlighted a few challenges hindering the process, notably the verification of foreign nationals, including refugees and asylum seekers who have submitted applications.

To address the problems, his department will collaborate with the Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, to streamline the verification process and support eligible foreign nationals in running small businesses in South Africa.

Additionally, he also cited a challenge of shortage of health environmental practitioners required to ensure compliance with health and environmental regulations.

However, he said the national government is taking proactive steps to address the shortage and would deploy 520 environmental health practitioners to assist in the inspection of registered businesses.

After the deadline, he said, the next stage is verification of businesses to check if they exist and what they are selling.

“Health environmental practitioners will play a greater role because the police, metro personnel, and every law-enforcement agency will not be able to operate without the availability and guidance of the health environmental practitioners,” he said.

While the majority of the people expressed satisfaction with the registration process, one woman told Hlabisa that she was unhappy because the registration process was costly for her.

The woman, Queen Mabunda, from Soshanguve, said: “It is an expensive process for me. They said if you are running a business, you have to put the tiles, the burglar doors, which cost a lot of money. And I am not making that money because I am selling bunny chows. I also had to pay R577 to get a health certificate for my business.”

Hlabisa advised Mabunda to first go through the registration process and not start by complaining about upgrading her place.

He said the government has an amount of R500 million set aside to assist small businesses, adding that the Ministry of Small Businesses will be embarking on a programme in dispensing the budget.

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za

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Minister Hlabisa: 'No more extensions' for small business registrations