Ndabeni to update on Spaza Shop Support Fund implementation

Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni will on Monday provide an update on the implementation of the Spaza Shop Support Fund.

Ndabeni is expected to provide an update on the processing of applications, as well as the support provided to qualifying South African-owned spaza shops.

She’s also expected to address claims that foreign nationals benefited from the R500 million rand.

Minister Stella Tembisa Ndabeni engaged local MSMEs, including spaza shop owners, during the Ministerial Outreach Programme, sharing information on support and funding opportunities available to small businesses.

The engagement highlighted the Spaza Shop Funding Programme, IMEDP… pic.twitter.com/Ir9PyDOZgr — Department of Small Business Development (@DSBD_SA) August 13, 2026 President of the South African Spaza Shops Association, Kgothatso Ramautswa, has called on the minister to address long-standing economic imbalances which exist within the industry.

“The feedback we are getting from shops is that the funding alone is not assisting them with anything.

Remember now, you give somebody funding, but there is no fair competition within the market on its own because our call was we need to be able to monitor the current market so that there is fair competition between South African spaza shops and foreign national spaza shops.

So there is a lot of red tape that we need to also deal with.

We need to look into what became a problem that has curbed the South African in the spaza shop business.” Video | R179 million approved for Spaza Shop Support Fund: