South African consumers have 45 days to comment on how the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) can be best used to protect them against dishonest spaza shop owners and informal traders.

This, after the National Consumer Commission (NCC) had gazetted draft guidelines on the description and record-keeping of sales in South Africa, specifically targeted at informal traders, such as spaza shops.

The Commission conducted countrywide monitoring inspections between July 2024 and March 2026 and identified widespread non-compliance with the CPA.

The NCC says its inspections found that most of the suppliers inspected failed to comply with the CPA, such as disclosing prices of goods offered and misleading consumers with marketing.

National Consumer Commission’s spokesperson, Phetho Ntaba says, “Indeed, we have issued guidelines on product descriptions, labelling, issuance of sales records and price disclosure requirements in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act for public comment.”

“We have given interested parties, the South African consumers and businesses, 45 days to provide their comment. This is to help South African spaza shops in particular, importers, suppliers and manufacturers to really understand and comply with the Consumer Protection Act.”

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