JOHANNESBURG - Concerns are mounting over the rollout and possible mismanagement of the R500-million spaza shop support fund.
The fund was launched last year to help registered spaza shop owners upgrade their businesses and comply with regulatory requirements.
However, the Department of Small Business Development says only about R44-million has been disbursed to 728 spaza shops so far, representing less than 10 percent of the total fund.
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This has triggered growing calls for greater transparency in how the money is being allocated and managed.
Sibusiso Ngcobo from the SA Spaza and Tuckshop Association said they are disappointed at the speed and rollout of the process.
"I think more than anything the problem is not the intent, the initiative is a great initiative, we welcomed it, but I think the greater question is that is it fairly and quickly and transparent, is it fairly accessible, is it quick, is it easy for the people on the ground, the traders, the spaza shop owners, to be able to access that," he said.
"So the turnaround has been very low, especially if you look at the figures of Gauteng as the economic hub of the country; the figures are alarmingly low, so it points our direction to look at what the bottlenecks are at the municipal levels.
"I think prior to that, the system is grossly undercapacitated. I think we were supposed to be assisted with a separate task team to deal with the situation."