Cape Town - Western Cape ANC Finance and Economic Opportunities spokesperson Nomi Nkondlo has demanded that Pick n Pay and the provincial Department of Economic Development and Tourism (Dedat) account to the legislature about the public funds spent on the retailer’s township economy project.
Nkondlo said the Pick n Pay Market Store project, which started in 2017 and ran until 2021, had left many small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) in debt to the tune of millions of rand.
The project was a collaboration between the province and the retailer to convert existing spaza shops in townships into independently owned mini-supermarkets.
Nkondlo was accompanied by a former participant in the programme, single mother Thembi Dike, who said she owed the retailer money that she is unable to repay, and this had affected her health and her family.
Nkondlo said: “The ANC has enlisted the assistance of Mjexane Attorneys to explore the possibility of a class action and ensure that Pick n Pay accounts for the debt incurred by the owners or accept joint responsibility.”
Pick n Pay said that it had worked closely with government and respected funders to provide assistance, including know-how, training, access to their products, supply chain and beneficial loans.
Pick n Pay said the market store programme had succeeded in helping to build some very successful small businesses, which remain independent from Pick n Pay, but that in a tough market, not every store would succeed.
It said it was in talks with the market store owners to understand why the stores had run into problems.
Dedat spokesperson Joe-Mark Arnold said the department’s role had been to provide grant funding of R3.6million directly to shop owners to upgrade the infrastructure of their stores, at no cost to the beneficiaries.
“Six out of the eight stores that started are still trading, while two have closed. The two closures are not unique to the Western Cape, with six being closed in the Gauteng project,” he said.
However, he said that overall, the project created 151 jobs with 24 already existing, by June 2021 and that the direct job creation had made the project impactful.