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Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi misled the National Council of Provinces last year when he indicated that R650 million was set aside for South Africans to reclaim the spaza shop space.

During his oral reply to my questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, the Premier indicated that R6 million had been allocated to the Gauteng Department of Economic Development (GDED) for the 2023/2024 financial year, for the township retail programme.

Furthermore, he indicated that the R650 million is the total amount that has been pooled from both government and the private sector in the Township Economic Partnership Fund.

In other words, the government must still find the rest of the money needed to help spaza shops in the province. This will be extremely difficult given South Africa has been greylisted. This will make it more difficult for the provincial government to entice the private sector to invest in our province.

The Premier emphasised that reclaiming the spaza shops will not ignite xenophobia as spaza shops that are currently owned by foreign nationals will not be taken away from them, if they can proof that they have the necessary documentation to confirm their legal status in South Africa.

Instead, the provincial government is in the process of providing support to the 20 000 retailers and manufacturers that are part of the township retail programme.

While the intentions of the programme appear to be a step in the right direction, we are worried that this may spark a new wave of xenophobic attacks in the province and that we will have a repeat of the looting that took place in July 2021.

In addition, we question whether it is the government’s place to set up a bulk retail buyer facility for township businesses.

The DA will be closely monitoring the budget that will be delivered next week to see exactly where the rest of the money needed for the township retail programme will come from. We know that the devil is in the detail, and we cannot sell our township retailers pipe dreams that will never come to fruition.

Issued by Adriana Randall MPL - DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Finance