Qualifying South African-born spaza shop owners have been urged to stop leasing out their properties to undocumented immigrants who run spaza shops in their communities.

This comes as scores of eager spaza shop owners, hawkers, and ordinary Soweto residents came out in large numbers to hear the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau, and Small Business and Development Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams unveil their joint R500 million Spaza Shop Support Fund during an event held at the Eyethu Shopping Centre in Soweto.

However, due to the size of the venue, scores of other Soweto residents were turned away with a promise that the two ministers would return to the township on another date.

"They should not have called us to such a small venue if they wanted to entertain themselves. I came here to get information on how I can grow my business, but now I can't because they say it is too full inside," said Agnes Kubayi, a Dobsonville-based street vendor.

The fund, aimed at empowering and skilling South African-born spaza shop owners and other food handling businesses with training, skills, and funds to inject into their business, comes after spaza shop owners were given until February 28 to register their businesses following a wave of food-borne fatalities in Soweto and other parts of the country.

Speaking during her address, Ndabeni-Abrahams emphasised the need for South Africans to abide by the rules and requirements stipulated by the new fund as well as by the Constitution, saying it would be a futile exercise should qualifying South Africans continue to act as fronts for illegal immigrants who run spaza shops leased to them by "irresponsible" South Africans.

"Out of the more than 87 000 registered spaza shops in the country, only 53% of those are from South Africans. The question is who the other people are who have registered. I know that South Africans are not xenophobic, but we must use the law to bring transformation. We are not xenophobic when we give effect to what the Constitution says.

"There is a need for us to deal with imbalances and we must learn to support our own and complement what our neighbour is doing to ensure that when we compete as businesspeople, we compete fairly. Those who are leasing their properties must act responsibly as they are depriving genuine South Africans from taking part in the economy," she said.

The fund, which is to be jointly administered by the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA), provides critical financial and skills support to township businesses, and has strict requirements on who qualifies for the R50 000 package.

In his address, Tau emphasised the need for the township economy to be returned to the hands of locals, saying this would correct the wrongs of the recent past which has deprived South Africans of a chance to participate fully in the economy.

"This fund began with a call from the Minister of Small Business and Development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, who suggested that we put together R100 million each to create this fund. It has now grown to R500 million. Who knows how far it will grow in the near future. This is about correcting the wrongs of the past...

"It encourages us to do more of what we are doing, as spaza shops provide an essential service, and for many families, these stores are the heartbeat of the community and by launching this fund, our government is investing directly to the grassroots economy," he said.

For Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Development Lebogang Maile, production and not consumption is at the centre of the township economy which he said needs a real boost to ensure true economic transformation.

"We need to have big industrial sites and ensure that all our provinces work as together, we can resolve these issues, and ensure that this productive capacity becomes an entrenched culture," Maile stated.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za