Something terrible is happening in our beloved townships these days. And it is cause for concern. It involves children, and adults buying and consuming food from spaza shops owned by foreign nationals of Indian descent – Pakistanis and Bangladeshis – who are called, “abo my friend”.
What used to be a black-owned market back in the day, is now 99.9% dominated and controlled by these illegal foreigners. Profit earned from the sale of the illicit goods sold by abo my friend is shipped out of the country illegally on a daily basis.
A valuable market is slipping through our hands sibhekile, and no one in government is doing anything about it. Research shows that currently there are 150,000 spaza shops throughout the country. They are competing with industry players Shoprite (3 152 stores) and Pick N Pay (2 000 stores).
It is reported that 80% of the population visits a spaza shop each day, 40% of food is bought from spaza shops daily, and 70% of bread is sold at spaza shops daily. The number-crunching shows that the spaza shop market is worth R178 billion.
Given the above figures, Tax Justice South Africa (TJSA) and the SA Revenue Service say illegal spaza shops cost the country’s fiscus billions of rands.
“If it were not for the increase in illicit goods being sold on the streets, at tuck shops, or any other areas, the country’s fiscus could afford another R12bn for education, R6.5bn for health, and an additional R6.5bn for community development,” says TJSA.
The production and sale of fake foods and products is not a new phenomenon.
In 2018, police in the Northern Cape arrested five men and a woman for producing counterfeit sanitary towels, shoe polish, food, and other illegal items. What happened to the corner stores ikasi used to pride itself in? The Nkosi & Sons, the Mofokeng, the Mashini, the Moloi stores, ndibala ntoni, are dead and buried.
They have been replaced by these thugs, all in the name of making easy money through renting out space by landlords. A hungry stomach knows no law, so they say. Now and then, we hear stories of children getting sick or dying after consuming foodstuffs bought from these manga manga shops.
These food items have either reached their sell-by dates, are rotten, do not comply with or meet regulated food and health standards, and are also not meant for human consumption. They are manufactured in dingy and filthy factories in some remote areas of the country.
Inspectors from the Department of Health, whose duty is to go around checking the quality of the food we consume, and monitor and regulate these spaza shops, are visibly sleeping on the job.
To start with, these foreigners have no proper places to stay. Therefore, a shop by day turns into a sleeping area by night. Hygiene and cleanliness are thrown out of the window. And like clockwork, the next day you see the local community queuing up in front of these dark, dingy, stinky, and filthy shops.
Social media is awash with stories of mass production hubs of fake beans, packaged as Koo beans, fake cornflakes, spaghetti, noodles, cough syrup, fake cool drinks such as Lemon Twist and Coca-Cola, milk, and Grand-Pa medication for headaches, condoms are recycled from used ones or fake condoms branded as Lovers Plus condoms and fake cigarettes.
Children are sold fake or allegedly poisoned biscuits, Go Slow chips, and all other junk you may think of. Sadly, some kids die after consuming these illegal foodstuffs. These fong kong food materials are challenging the already-existing brands and products that we know and grew up with.
Following the death of the four children in Soweto, the West Rand, and other areas recently, Operation Dudula and civil rights movement, Not In My Name International, have been agitating for the closure of spaza shops operated by undocumented and illegal foreigners in all Gauteng townships.
O kae molao to raid and shut these spaza shops once and for all?
Communities are urged to make it their business to fight for the elimination of foreign-owned spaza shops in their areas.
Government and leaders are sitting on their hands while our kids are dying.
Sadly, our townships and our legacy have been sold to the highest bidders, literally.