Spaza shops will be opening again. There were an equal amount of thumbs down as thumbs up on the YouTube SABC news clip when it carried the news over the weekend. What is the case for spaza shops and informal food vendors to be allowed to operate?
Under the current lockdown circumstances, poor people are unable to produce and sell their food, and other poor people are unable to buy enough nutritious food. The staff at PLAAS (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies), in the article “Food in the time of the Coronavirus: Why we should be very, very afraid“, make suggestions about what should be changed should the lockdown be extended. The legitimacy of the lockdown itself is at stake. The article itself is a lengthy piece, and we list only a summary of its recommendations here. The reader is referred to the original article to gain a fuller comprehension of its thinking and motivation.
Amend the lockdown regulations to allow any supplier of food items to operate.
Allow poor people – as small-scale farmers, fishers, street traders and spazas – to produce, transport and sell food. This must include all spaza shops and street vendors.
De-concentrate the food system spatially.
To avoid any concentration of crowds, facilities of existing public infrastructure (like schools) could be used.
Opt for cash instead of vouchers.
Rather than food vouchers to allow poor people to access food at supermarkets, do straight cash transfers so that they can buy food from whatever quarter they choose to.
Urgent help for small-scale food producers.
The Solidarity Fund should be drawn on to keep farm and fishing enterprises and other small-scale food enterprises going, including the provision of the appropriate protective equipment necessary.
Aggregation of small-scale producers’ output.
Small-scale farmers could establish depots to which produce is brought for onward sale. Existing WhatsApp groups could compile spreadsheets indicating what is available for sale.
Get supermarkets to adjust their procurement systems.
Negotiate with supermarkets to buy from small-scale farmers. This produce could be advertised specifically as produce from small-scale farmers.
Get the corporate sector to repurpose its infrastructure.
The logistics chains of supermarkets, or other major companies with massive distribution networks that reach every corner of the country could be used to help transport food from small-scale farmers.
Procure from small-scale food producers.
Paying cash upfront, government should procure vegetables, fish and other food for public distribution from small-scale producers.
Manage shopping expeditions.
Shopping hours/days could be allocated to specific areas at specific times. This would prevent large numbers at supermarkets at certain times, like immediately after disbursement of social grants. Releasing informal food traders from the lockdown will also reduce the intensity of peak times at supermarkets.
Accept and work with the informal.
“Don’t try to get the informal sector to comply with registration requirements. It’s informal. Recognise this as a reality and a crucial part of the food economy. But immediately allowing all spaza shops to operate is not enough. Spaza shops are not adequate for households to do their main shopping – people shop around and usually go to spazas for small additional items. The informal sector must be restored, and augmented with new outlets in a more dispersed system”.
Photo by Varun Tandon on Unsplash
