Foreigners see SA as 'banana republic' – Mbalula

ANC elections head Fikile Mbalula last week described SA as a ‘banana republic’ that allowed foreign nationals with no legal papers to run businesses. Mbalula was addressing people of Soweto at the Orlando Community Hall where he was giving the governing party's feedback following the violent protests and looting of foreign-owned spaza shops in White City recently, says a TimesLIVE report. He said government needed to regulate foreign nationals who owned spaza shops for the sustainability of businesses owned by locals. As things stand‚ opined Mbalula‚ the country was a ‘banana republic to foreign nationals’‚ whom he accused of coming into the country as political refugees only to start trading illegally. Worse still‚ he added‚ foreign nationals who owned spaza shops were ‘not paying tax because they keep their money under mattress’. The former Police Minister said foreign nationals were welcome to do business in SA, ‘but they must come legally’. According to Mbalula‚ many were in the country illegally. And he said he knew this as fact because he used to catch them when he was Police Minister. ‘I did not read this in newspapers but I know it because I was Police Minister and we did raids. When I asked for papers none were forthcoming. And there's many of them here in SA‚’ he said.

Mbalula also took a swipe at Minister of Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu‚ accusing her of ignoring township small businesses. According to TimesLIVE, he said the Small Business Development Department was established in 2009 to address challenges such as those faced by local business owners in Soweto. However‚ he said‚ Zulu was nowhere to be seen when she ought to be. Instead‚ she was busy with events in urban areas such as Sandton. He added: ‘That Ministry must come down (to the townships) and stop chasing after Sandton people. The Minister is nowhere but this is the space of that Ministry.'