South African Spaza and Tuckshop Association warns of potential abuse of R500 million fund
The fund, introduced earlier this month, is one of the department’s key initiatives to improve food safety and combat food-borne illnesses.
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The South African Spaza and Tuckshop Association has voiced concerns that the government's recently launched R500 million support fund for spaza shops could be misappropriated.
The fund was launched by the Department of Small Business Development in collaboration with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition earlier this month.
The fund aims to strengthen township economies by equipping small, often informal retailers with the tools and resources needed to thrive in a competitive market.
Additionally, the fund offers training in business management, support for digital transformation, and guidance to help shops comply with health and safety regulations. It also promotes collective purchasing models, enabling spaza shops to access better pricing from wholesalers.
In an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, Sibusiso Ngcobo, a representative of the South African Spaza and Tuckshop Association, said the organisation has a responsibility to ensure that the government’s spaza shop support fund is not misused.
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"We realise that we as South Africans have a responsibility to make sure that the elements of corrupt officials and corrupt local government municipalities do not rob us of our opportunity to have an economic identity.
He further alleged that during the registration process, some individuals acted as fronts for unregistered or illegal tuckshop operators. He pointed to incidents in areas such as Sibokeng, Tshwane, and Emfuleni, where elderly individuals were seen registering on behalf of others.
"We are aware that during the registration process, we had people in queues, particularly in the Sibokeng region, the Tshwane local municipality, Emfuleni, where we had elderly people fronting and registering for illegal tuckshop owners.
"We are currently compiling a list of all the illegal spaza shops that are operating in townships and then we will air our findings on May 7 in collaboration with Business Culture," He added.
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