Durban — ActionSA visited local spaza shop owners in uMlazi and KwaMashu townships as part of its election campaign on Thursday, to emphasise their importance to the local economy.
KZN premier candidate Zwakele Mncwango said that this walkabout was a continuation of the party’s #Spaza4Locals campaign in the City of Durban.
During the walkabout, they were joined by Lerato Ngobeni, who is the #TeamFixSA member for Home Affairs.
The campaign kicked off at KwaMnyandu Mall and continued to KwaMashu Section D and concluded at Clermont KK Hostel.
Mncwango said the purpose of the campaign was to learn about the challenges that local spaza shop owners face and encourage them to grow the local economy by not renting out their spaza shops to foreign nationals.
Shop owner Siyanda Mbhele, who owns Mphemba Tuck Shop in uMlazi, said that he welcomed the visit and explained his challenges and those of other spaza shop owners in the area.
“We often fail to maintain our businesses because we do not have business support. Sometimes we lack resources such as fridges and speed points. We also have an issue with crime because it derails the growth of the business and some owners decide to rent out the shop to foreigners instead,” said Mbhele.
He also said that local spaza shop owners also lack the ability to unite and share information with each other.
When Mncwango engaged with Mbhele, he suggested that there should be unity from the local spaza shop owners so that they can share information or customers.
“From my observation of foreign spaza shop owners, they do not usually send customers away without assistance. If one shop owner does not have a specific product, he calls the next spaza shop owner and refers the customer to that shop if they have that item," he said.
Another owner, Londeka Shibase, who runs a family business, Shibases Tuckshop, in KwaMashu, said that the community is not very supportive of his business.
“The sales that we used to have before are no longer the same. It affects business a lot because some customers say that shops owned by foreign nationals sell products at lower prices. Competition is my biggest challenge,” said Shibase.
Shibase said that there are months that the business makes no profit and that affects her livelihood, and she also would like to get training to assist her in advancing their business skills.
Ngobeni said one of the issues picked up on this tour is that South Africans want to own spaza shops and businesses, but they also need government assistance.
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