Community-based organisation and recently launched political party, Operation Dudula, says it has a plan to empower landlords and local people to take over the spaza shop economy in a bid to remove illegal immigrants who have dominated the space in the past 10 years.
The movement has in the past two weeks intensified its operation to shut down foreign-owned spaza shops in Soweto following the deaths of children after allegedly eating snacks bought from local spaza shops.
This week, it was reported that two more children, aged 3 and 4, died after allegedly eating snacks bought from a spaza shop in Vredefort in the Free State. According to Captain Loraine Earle, police launched an investigation after the two children were certified dead at the Multi-Purpose Centre in Mokwallo, in Vredefort, on Sunday.
Simphiwe Shabangu, Operation Dudula’s Joburg chairperson, told one of the landlords in Diepkloof that the movement has a programme it has implemented to ensure that only South Africans run spaza shop.
“We know that landlords lose money when we remove their tenants who are immigrants from their rented shops. However, we are able to give these landlords start-up capital for them to take over the shops. But if they do not want to run the shops, we are able to give the shop to a South African to run and then pay the landlord the same amount of rent which was paid by their previous tenant. All we want to do is ensure that only South Africans get to run spaza shops,” Shabangu said.
In yet another shutdown operation on Thursday, expired foodstuffs including spices, painkillers, cookies, and cold drinks were recovered in some of the shops that were raided by members of the movement.
Speaking to The Star yesterday, a landlord who identified himself as Sphiwe Ngwenya, who leases two shops from his yard, said he makes R9 000 from two Ethiopian nationals who have not given him any problems when it comes to paying the rent at the end of each month.
“I have been renting out two shops to immigrants. In that four years, I have never had an issue of non-payment. I know South Africans do not like paying. I am afraid that I will have problems should a South African take over the shop. However, if they say they will assist us with capital, I am willing to take that offer,” Ngwenya said.
The Star also visited Phumula Mqashi informal settlement near Vlakfontein, where members of the community are alleged to have burnt down a small recycling operation after it was reported that the operation was repackaging and reselling expired snacks.
It was reported that the community also beat up the three women who run this operation.
Speaking to The Star on Thursday, Shiraz Khan, who is the landlord of the space that was leased to these women, said the community did not consult with him to find out what was happening before burning down a room allegedly used by the women to repackage these snacks.
“I have been here for over 46 years and have been a member of this community. I recently hired out an unoccupied space to women who have been working there for three weeks now. I was not aware what kind of operation they were running but if the community had told me that they suspect that something illegal was taking place, they should have come to me,” Khan said.
On Wednesday, during an ANC media briefing on the outcomes of the recent ANC national executive committee meeting, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula indicated that the party is working on a plan to deal with the issue of illegal immigrants flooding the spaza shop market with untested and expired food products.