Q&A

 

News24 last week spoke to South African political party ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba about the government's response to the spaza shops and illegal miners – which has turned into a national discussion about foreign nationals. Mashaba and his party have historically taken a hardline stance on foreign nationals and, in this interview, he categorically states that President Cyril Ramaphosa should have ‘announced the immediate deportation of people into our country’.

 

What do you make of the spaza shop (unlicensed township retail stores) and zama-zama (illegal mining) issue currently playing out? I'm sure you are aware these two issues I raised them a lot when I was the mayor of the City of Johannesburg. I actually warned South Africans about the destruction of black entrepreneurs in the townships because of these illegal foreigners operating illegally in our townships, with us having no knowledge of how they came into our country, how they brought the money into their country. So these two issues I have really been raising them for a long time, that if we’re not going to do anything about it as a country then one day we'll pay a price, including raising the issue of the bringinrg in the counterfeit and expired goods. I warned South Africa in lots of interviews that the health inspectors were asking me for my intervention because of also not getting support from the national government, that some of the food brought into this country will one day create a health hazard for South Africa.

As you say, you and others who have been in government structures have raised this issue, but it still seems there was no proactive approach and rather a reactionary approach. I fully agree with that including the President's Friday address to the nation. I believe he really squandered a huge opportunity to really listen for one and to listen to the cries of the poor communities affected by this illegality. We expected the President to have actually announced the immediate deportation of people into our country illegally and being involved in criminal activity. Unfortunately, he's talking about actually legalising them. I don't understand how the President does think that this country is going to legalise illegality.

The President also said that it is not only foreign nationals' spaza shops, but locally-owned spaza shops that have poisoned, counterfeit and expired items. So why is your solution deportation when the issue is not only limited to foreign nationals, and that of government's lack of effective response to regulation and monitoring of spaza shops in general? Well, illegal foreigners are the biggest problem for South Africa. If you go into any poor community in the township, villages and informal settlements, I can tell you that 90% of spaza shops are run by foreign nationals. So, I think the President probably lives in a different world than the one I live in. I grew up with people running spaza shops in our communities which never used to really kill us. But right now, with the chaos compounded by the number of illegal foreigners involved in criminality, the President must not actually run away from this issue. Let him provide leadership and actually confront the issue that's facing South Africa right now.

Full News24 interview