Where credit’s due: anti-immigrant protests threaten township survival networks

When Godslove Khumalo’s groceries run out before month end, she does not stress about how she will put the next meal on the table.

Instead, the 63-year-old pensioner walks to an Ethiopian-owned tuck shop a few streets from her home in Tswelopele, Thembisa, where she is allowed to take groceries on credit and pay when her Sassa grant comes in.

For Khumalo, the arrangement has become a lifeline.

Her story comes as anti-immigration groups like March and March continue to campaign for undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa, with June 30 set as a deadline.

The campaign has included marches in several parts of the country, including one in Thembisa last week, where protesters demanded that undocumented immigrants leave and that authorities enforce immigration laws.

Against that backdrop, some residents say foreign-owned tuck shops have become an essential part of their monthly survival.

The pensioner lives with her unemployed daughter and survives on her monthly Sassa pension and R2,000 she earns from two tenants renting rooms at her home. But she says the money never stretches far enough.

“Everything is so expensive these days. R1,000 worth of groceries is only five items,” Khumalo told Sunday Times.

“When I get stuck in the middle of the month with groceries, I take groceries on credit from the Ethiopian tuck shop and pay him when I get my Sassa payment.”

Khumalo supports calls for undocumented immigrants to leave South Africa, but admits she worries about what would happen if foreign-owned tuck shops were forced to close.

“If they go and close businesses, it will be hard for us to survive the middle of the month shortages. Shoprite will not give me groceries on credit, and neighbours can’t even share sugar the way we used to in the olden days,” she said.

Her mixed feelings reflect the complexity of the immigration debate playing out in many communities, where concerns about undocumented migrants exist alongside economic relationships built over many years.

One of the shop operators, Ethiopian national Mamiru Semino, said helping customers on credit has become part of doing business during the eight years he has lived in South Africa.

Semino fled conflict in Oromia, Ethiopia, leaving his family behind while joining relatives already living in South Africa.

“I left my family there, but my uncle was already here. I came to live with him when I arrived in South Africa,” he said.

He said only customers he knows well and who live nearby qualify for credit.

“I know their faces and where they stay.”

Every transaction is recorded in a notebook containing the names of regular customers, what they have taken and when payment is expected.

He said his credit limit ends at R300.

“Some people do not come back and honour our arrangements. It is difficult for me because I can’t do anything about it,” he said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged South Africans not to take the law into their own hands, saying government is dealing with illegal immigration through law enforcement agencies. He has also warned against actions that could lead to instability or vigilantism.

Khumalo’s experience is shared by many residents in the township, where immigrant-owned tuck shops have become more than neighbourhood convenience stores.

For many struggling households, they also serve as informal lenders, allowing trusted customers to buy essential groceries on credit until payday.

For 88-year-old Zelda Mofokeng, known in the community as Gogo Mofokeng, the local tuck shop saves her the physical strain of travelling to shopping centres.

She said visiting malls had become difficult because of her age, making the nearby shop a more practical option.

“The tuck shop helps me avoid all the ups and downs,” she said.

She also withdraws her Sassa grant at the shop.

“I can withdraw all my Sassa money there, and they charge me only R10. It is convenient for me.”

The economic relationship extends beyond customers.

Frank Kgare, a pensioner who supplies atchar to several foreign-owned tuck shops in Tembisa, said they are among his biggest clients.

“They support my business very much. They buy in bulk. If they leave and close their businesses, businesses will also suffer,” he said.

For many residents, the tuck shops have become a necessity in daily life, offering groceries on credit, cash withdrawal services and a familiar face when money runs short.

As debates over immigration continue across the country, the experiences of residents highlight how foreign-owned neighbourhood shops have become part of the financial survival strategies of some of South Africa’s poorest households.

Another Ethiopian worker, 21-year-old Tegese Tsedeke, said he arrived in South Africa in 2023, aged 18, after his uncle recruited him from Ethiopia and covered his travel and accommodation costs.

He lived with five other young men while learning the business.

“We stayed together before starting work. For about three months, I was taught about the products, how to speak to customers and the basics of running the shop,” he said.

Once trained, he was placed at one of his uncle’s shops, where he worked without pay.

Tsedeke said he does not yet earn a salary because he is still repaying the money his uncle spent bringing him to South Africa.

“After I settle what I owe him, I will start getting paid and open my own shop too,” he said.

Like Semino, he also allows trusted customers to buy groceries on credit, but says it comes at a cost.

He estimates he has lost about R1,000 worth of groceries to customers who never returned to pay.

Tsedeke said uncertainty about the June 30 deadline had left many foreign nationals anxious.

“If my uncle says we’re leaving on June 30, there’s nothing I can do. I will hear all the plans from him,” he said.

Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia has said police are on high alert ahead of June 30 and warned that while immigration laws would continue to be enforced, no individual or group would be allowed to intimidate or unlawfully target foreign nationals.