“In the past, my business was teeming with residents coming to get groceries using wheelbarrows. But the roaring trade has become a distant memory as we are being suffocated by the influx of foreign nationals.”
This is what Elliot Gama, 67, who runs eMagameni tuck shop in KwaMashu, told ActionSA party leader Herman Mashaba, national spokesperson Lerato Ngobeni and provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango when they visited him on Monday to discuss the township economy.
Gama built a makeshift shack in 1996 which operated as a spaza shop. “My business grew and I was able to build a formal structure from where I traded and the support of the community was great,” he said.
His situation is not rosy. He said the problem started with a steady stream of foreign nationals who set up their shops and competed for customers.
“We would understand if they were doing something which is outside our orbit and different to us. They sell sugar and bread, which we also sell. This is our place which were born in, where else can we go?” said Gama.
He called on the government to hear their plight and support them.
An equally aggrieved KwaMashu resident, Sibongile Malinga, 73, blamed the government for not clamping down on illegal foreigners. Malinga opened her tuck shop in 2004. She said her business thrived for a while until a wave of burglaries which eventually led her to relinquish the business to foreign nationals.
“The police were not helping us after burglaries. I was left reeling from the losses and then I was approached by foreign nationals who asked for a place to rent and I had no option,” she said.
She said she was upset by news headlines about children being poisoned after eating goods bought at informal shops and vendors, so she now screened her tenants’ till slips for items bought from wholesalers.
“I am doing this because I don’t want someone’s child to die after having eaten poisoned foodstuff and then the next day my house gets torched for having allowed people to sell,” she said.
These were some of the stories relayed by KwaMashu township dealers who were visited by ActionSA.
“We expect the government of national unity to do something about this because the ANC has not done anything on this in the past,” said Mashaba.
He said in 2016 when he was the Johannesburg mayor he faced backlash for being “xenophobic”.
“I am more determined today than I was in 2016. I am even determined because we are losing lives nationally, and we are losing opportunities for people to create and run business,” said Mashaba.
When you talk about spaza, it's not just a convenience store but rather something that supports the local economy
— Lerato Ngobeni, ActionSA MP
The country faces one of the highest unemployment statistics in the world, he said. “At the same time, we allow people coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. International crime syndicates have actually identified South Africa to be a playground of criminality. This is going to stop.”
The party was not new to taking up the challenge linked to foods containing banned substances, said Mncwango.
“We have been on this even during the election campaign. We even moved a motion in our council in eThekwini to find the illegal businesses run by foreigners,” he said.
The party was petitioning the municipality to conduct an investigation on tuck shops run by illegal immigrants, he said. They have garnered more than 6,000 signatures thus far.
MP Lerato Ngobeni said: “I want to underscore ‘illegal’. We are for South Africa.”
She said they had started a campaign dubbed #spazaforlocals.
“When you talk about spaza, it's not just a convenience store but rather something that supports the local economy,” said Ngobeni.
She said they want the bill to be an essential legislative proposal to promote local economic development, ensure consumer safety and mitigate the impact of unregulated foreign-owned shops across communities.
“We want the bill to be debated at the National Assembly,” said Ngobeni.
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