Red tape strangles spaza grant

MINISTER of Small Business Development Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has revealed that, despite the R500 million Spaza Shop Support Grant being launched, only a small portion of the funds have been disbursed, with just 109 spaza shops currently receiving assistance.

- HOPE NTANZI

The minister was responding to a parliamentary question from African Transformation Movement (ATM) MP Thandiswa Marawu, who asked about the total amount disbursed, the number of beneficiaries, their demographics, and the geographic distribution of the funding.

Ndabeni-Abrahams said: “To date, 10 993 applications have registered and started the application through the Spaza Shop application portal. To date, 2 125 have completed the application process and need to be verified in terms of the programme criteria, which includes municipal licensing and permits.”