Pretoria - Big business has moved into townships and upset the township economy, threatening the livelihood of the thousands of people who depended on it.
Big grocery retailers are establishing themselves in what has traditionally been a local business space, taking business away from the “small guys”, stakeholders said.
“Small businesses are being elbowed out and economic opportunities and jobs snatched from them,” economist Lloyd Mashele said.
The big retailers were essentially stealing from the poor, he added.
Corner shop and spaza owners were more relaxed in the running of their business and did not care for glitz and glamour.
“But when these big boys bring big buildings and flashy wrapping they are able to lure unsuspecting customers,” said Mashele.
This left shop owners and hawkers in a financial dilemma.
“They are forced to withdraw their services and watch their neighbours walk into shops, and this goes against the plans announced by the government to grow the township economy,” the economist said.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura last year launched the Qondis ishishini lakho (Fix Your Business) campaign, which was meant, in part, to awaken township business.
An amount of R160 million was set aside to support township entrepreneurs in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
The money was to ensure that small, medium and micro-sized enterprises managed their businesses well and ultimately joined the mainstream business sector.
The project would also create jobs in a country with a 27 percent unemployment rate.
“We must work towards conditions where every rand generated from the township economy circulates within the township economy and benefits residents,” the premier said at the launch last year.
The possibility of unfair competition and unfair practices is the subject of a probe by the Competition Commission.
It has set up an inquiry into big retailers and township traders.
Commission spokesman Itumeleng Lesofe said the inquiry would, among other matters, look at the impact of the expansion, diversification and consolidation of national supermarket chains on small and independent retailers.
“It will also look at the long term exclusive leases on competition in the sector and the dynamics of competition between local and foreign owned small and independent retailers,” he said.
But the government worked against itself, leaving the people on the ground to suffer, said Soshanguve businessman Thebe Mashabane.
“Small businesses are dying a slow and painful death because there is no legislation to protect us,” he said.
When the big retailers initially came in they promised to work with the community,” he said.
“They employed the right quota during construction. But the selection process for shop employees threw us out,â€ù he said.
And so they lost out on the business opportunity and on job opportunities, he said.
“What is sad is that our customers love the feel of 'town' that comes with shopping in big stores and spend more money on what they get for much less on their street.”
They even took taxis to the shops to buy bread, milk and paraffin, spending three or four times more than they would have if they had taken a walk down the road, Mashabane added.
“The government has a free for all trade policy and that has done us in,” Mamelodi local business forum chairman Sabinki Senabe said.
Public submissions to the Competition Commission have been made and submissions have been received from firms involved in the grocery retail sector, the property market, finance institutions and suppliers, Lesofe said. Business, trade associations, government departments, public entities, regulatory authorities, consumers and other stakeholders were invited to provide information relevant to the inquiry.