More than 6000 spaza shops assisted with R58 million

Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said more than 6000 spaza shops had been assisted with R58 million since the introduction of the Spaza Shop Support Programme (SSSP).

MORE THAN 6000 SPAZA SHOPS HAVE BEEN ASSISTED 

This was revealed by Ndabeni-Abrahams when she was responding to written parliamentary questions from GOOD party MP Brett Herron.

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MORE THAN 10 000 SPAZA SHOPS APPLIED FOR SUPPORT 

He wanted to know about the number of spaza shops that applied for support after President of the Republic Cyril Ramaphosa announced in April 2020 Covid-19 economic and social relief measures aimed at assisting SMMEs, spaza shop owners and other informal businesses in the form of loans, grants and debt restructuring.

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A TOTAL OF R58 507 000 HAS BEEN USED TO ASSIST SPAZA SHOPS 

Ndabeni-Abrahams said a total of 10 446 spaza shops applied for funding.

Herron also enquired about the total amount of R175m that was distributed and unspent, asking what became of the unallocated funds.

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‘THOSE NOT APPROVED WERE NOT SPAZAS’

According to Ndabeni-Abrahams 6 350 have been assisted with funding to the tune of R58 507 000.

“The applicants that were not approved were not spazas, such as electronics, plumbers, fruit and vegetable hawkers, and in these cases, they were advised to apply for assistance to the other support programmes of the Small Enterprise Finance Agency.”

Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams

DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS WAS DONE THROUGH COMMERCIAL BANKS 

She furthermore said the distribution of the funds was done through commercial banks.

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According to a report by IOL, Ndabeni-Abrahams also said popularisation of the scheme would result in the demand exceeding the funds available, and that would require additional funding to be allocated via the approved proper governance structures.

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