The large scale provincial operation, which was led by the the Department of Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Destea) in the wake of the declaration of the nationwide state of disaster by President Cyril Ramaphosa, further resulted in nine shops being shut down for a host of offenses.

Destea, which is led by MEC Makalo Mohale, was assisted by police, municipalities, the Home Affairs department and the National Regulator for Compulsory Specification (NRCS) in carrying out the blitz inspections in Bultfontein, Ventersburg, Reddersburg, Smithfield, Memel, Bothavillle and Bloemfontein to check local businesses’ adherence to the Covid-19 Disaster Management Regulations. They reportedly “discovered that there are a lot of foreign nationals who are not properly documented, running spaza shops in many towns and townships”. As a result, most of these small businesses are not registered and not in possession of municipal permits. Other official local businesses were found to be overpricing essential items and flouting health and safety regulations.

The department does not mention any businesses by name. This as the National Consumer Commission and the Competition Commission revealed in late March that a Bloemfontein-based pharmacy was among several retail outlets across the country, under investigation by the National Consumer Commission, for hiking the prices of essential items such as hand sanitisers, face masks and toilet paper. Destea is yet to comment on this matter. 

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