The little shop of MaKhumalo

First Lady Sizakele Khumalo, who gets a share of a R15.5-million president's spousal support budget from taxpayers, is happier making R300 a day from her rural spaza.

MaKhumalo, 72, sells everything from loose cigarettes and paraffin to sorghum malt for making traditional beer. She became a trader after dropping out of school in Grade 6.

Her poky rustic store, which also allows pensioners to buy on credit, caters to about 8500 villagers in KwaNxamalala in Nkandla, northern KwaZulu-Natal.

The shop probably has the best security in the region: two security cameras and a team of security guards occupy a house at the entrance to Zuma's newly renovated homestead.

This week, the guards denied the Sunday Times permission to interview MaKhumalo about her spaza shop, saying arrangements had to be made with her personal assistant or her husband's office.

The soft-spoken woman, who married President Jacob Zuma in 1973 and until recently sold vegetables at pension pay points, apparently hates the fuss made by the security personnel. According to relatives and villagers, MaKhumalo treasures the freedom of working in her garden and tending to her customers.

Inside the little store, customers trickled in to buy small household items to supplement their groceries bought in Eshowe, less than 60km away.

Shelves in the spaza shop contained 6kg packets of sorghum malt priced at R70 each, 750ml bottles of cooking oil on offer for R15 each and blocks of 250g Rama margarine for R12.

Other basic items included 200g packets of Imana soup for R12 and a litre of long-life milk, also for R12.

A fridge was stocked with cans of cooldrink, which cost R7 each, a price that compares reasonably with suburban cafés.

Shop assistant Lungile Khumalo said bread, eggs, mealiemeal and rice had run out and would be restocked soon. She referred all other questions to MaKhumalo's personal assistant.

Tizaya Mbambo, 60, a regular customer, said most locals were allowed to buy basic necessities on credit. "Most people buy sorghum from MaKhumalo because it's much cheaper there than other shops," she said.

Fusiwe Mkhize, 58, who regularly buys Sunlight washing powder for R10 at the store, said the builders who renovated Zuma's homestead had bought snacks and cooldrinks.

The spaza shop, as well as the guardhouse, were recently upgraded at a cost of R586467 as part of a R206-million security upgrade of the president's homestead, according to a November 2010 progress report by the Department of Public Works.

Relatives said that, on average, MaKhumalo's business netted R300 a day, a pittance compared with the R15.5-million taxpayers pay annually for the Zuma's spousal support budget.

The budget covers, among other things, personal support staff - namely a secretary and researcher - for Zuma's four wives, their cellphone bills, air travel, accommodation and daily allowances for official visits approved by the president.

Relatives said MaKhumalo, who accompanied Zuma on state visits to Botswana and Mozambique last year, also spent a lot of her time managing the Mashobane Foundation, an organisation aimed at community upliftment.