Spaza shops to be licensed very soon

MBOMBELA – The provincial branch of the Youth Chamber of Commerce and Industry South Africa (YCCISA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mpumalanga Government, Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) and National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), as a part of the action plan.

YCCISA-MP, in conjunction with its partners, has launched various programmes in the province including the Mpumalanga Youth Enterprise Programme in partnership with SABMiller and NYDA.

Its leaders recently collaborated to evaluate, monitor and implement the township-economy revitalisation plan, the spaza programme which is a unique initiative for the Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

“This will serve as the blueprint for the township plan. A study, which was conducted by Unisa through the department, identified that the cornerstone of township and rural economic market was spaza shops.

The market has been infiltrated by foreign nationals who make it difficult for these local owners to be sustainable, competitive and profitable. This has an ultimate direct and indirect impact on the growth of township and rural economies.

Big businesses, which pay hefty taxes, are under siege as most this foreign shops sell counterfeit goods and they hardly pay tax,” explained Mr Victor Mashego.

“It is in the light of the above that YCCISA has proposed that all spazas must formalise their trade, be licensed, trained and financially supported.

The Mpumalanga Department of Economic Development, through MEGA, has set aside funds for this initiative, while the City of Mbombela has shown interest to work with the YCCIA-MP to license our spazas in the province officially,” Mashego said.

The organisation, in conjunction with their partner Coca-Cola Fortune Nelspruit office in Mbombela, had been offered an opportunity to adopt a number of spazas as part of their enterprise development.

“This opportunities will be extended to other cooperate giants like British American Tobacco to also assist in the fight against counterfeit trade,” he explained.

The organisation has scheduled a mass meeting with various stakeholders to be held in the City of Mbombela on November 1. The aim is to discuss the implementation for the township revitalisation plan.