The Department of Small Business Development has rejected claims that non-compliant, foreign-linked spaza shops benefited from the government’s R500 million support fund, stating that its verification process identified ownership discrepancies before applications were approved.
The department was responding to allegations circulating on social media that foreign-owned spaza shops had accessed the fund intended for eligible South African-owned businesses in townships and rural areas.
Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency (SEDFA) Deputy Director-General Qinisile Delwa told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development that applications were scrutinised for discrepancies between the applicant, licence holder, and actual operator.
“What we did identify through the verification process was that there were certain applications where there were differences between the applicant details, the licence owners, and the actual owner or operator of a spaza shop,” Delwa said.
She said SEDFA had identified the discrepancies during its verification process and had previously reported them to the committee in March 2026. The agency also found cases where the business at an address did not match the business listed in the application, as well as applications linked to spaza shops that did not exist.
