Spaza shop

[1][2][5] Initially selling daily essentials like mielie meal, bread, and sugar over time, they've expanded their offerings to include a variety of goods, from small furniture items to toiletries, and even some electronics.

[6] With the fall of apartheid came an inflow of migrants from across the continent, seeing many undocumented Ethiopian and Somali asylum-seekers coming to South Africa and opening spaza shops, creating tension between local and foreign micro-entrepreneurs.

[7][2][5][8] South Africa received 778,000 asylum applications between 2008 and 2012 alone and now more than 60% of spaza shops in townships today are run by foreign nationals.

[1][2][5][8] In September 2024, there were 890 reported incidents of food-borne illnesses and spaza shops were identified by President Cyril Ramaphosa as being responsible.

[12] The South African Informal Traders Alliance (SAITA) agreed that the issue of food safety was vital;,[13] however, the root causes were that the City of Johannesburg had cut budgets and neglected health inspections.