It is 2023 and we have cholera in the Pretoria district, a violent “taxi strike” in Cape Town, a devastating fire in Johannesburg and now calls by ANC office-bearers to regulate and control spaza shops.
What can we learn from this? I suggest the most obvious lesson is that our forebears generally legislated wisely, on the basis that legislation should be for the benefit of the majority. Remember the once prolific “Moenie spoeg nie” signs at railway stations and bus stops? They were intended to counter the spread of TB.
Municipal bylaws ranging from the ban on keeping chickens in residential areas to the need for planning permission before adding to dwellings, are designed to protect residents, prevent overcrowding and help us live together in harmony.
If a spaza shop owner, knowingly or unknowingly, sells goods that existing regulations prevent established shops such as Shoprite or Boxer from selling, they should face the full might of the law, regardless of whether the bylaws were enacted before 1910, or between 1948 and 1994, or even after 1994.
If such regulations are in the best interests of the majority of the people they must be upheld, in line with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent call for “a return to law and order”.
It does not matter which party is in control of any municipality, municipal public servants do not get to choose whether to uphold the law. The licentiousness that has prevailed post 1994 must be ended forthwith.
Errol Callaghan
Goodwood
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
