'Vulnerable, poor South Africans' used to register spaza shops, says ActionSA

JOHANNESBURG - ActionSA says vulnerable and poor South Africans are being used to register spaza shops on behalf of foreign nationals.

Last month, the government opened a 21-day window for all spaza shops in the country to be officially registered within their local municipalities.

On Wednesday, ActionSA members marched to the Johannesburg municipality satellite office in Jabulani, Soweto, calling for spaza shops to be reserved only for locals.

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"That process is called fronting, we know that our people are being used, we know that vulnerable people, poor people and some of them opportunists are being used to front for people who should not be able to register spaza shops.

"You know the law says if you are going to be investing as a foreign national, you must invest no less than R5 million, also employ no less than 60% (of locals) of your workforce and we are not seeing that on the ground," said the party's national spokesperson - Lerato Ngobeni.