ANC pushes for SMMEs in townships to be owned by locals

By Simon Nare

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has called for a review of laws that allow foreign nationals to operate small businesses like spaza shops.

Mbalula told a media briefing at Luthuli House in Johannesburg that in most countries on the continent, foreign nationals were prohibited from operating SMMEs such as salons and spaza shops.

“As we deal with closure of spaza shops and (the) illegality of spaza shops and the regularity and health situation in terms of goods that are in these spaza shops… over and above that, we believe that those businesses must be preserved for South Africans.

“But over and above that, how do we preserve some of the local businesses? We learn from Africa. I have been to Ghana. Ghana has passed a law where if you want to open a spaza shop or a local barber shop, it is preserved only for Ghanaians. Why is