R184 billion—that is the amount that the informal grocery sector, including spaza shops and mobile traders, is supposedly valued at in South Africa. According to Trade Intelligence, an FMCG retail research company.The numbers around this sector are very interesting, and what they showcase is the opportunity that exists where spazas are involved. Because 11.1 million South Africans do their grocery shopping at these stores, and they cite convenience and low prices. As much as 40% of food consumers who were surveyed said that each year they bought from informal traders, and around 77% of the population’s calorie consumption is delivered through the informal grocery sector. With all that said, there’s an estimate that of the 150,000–200,000 spaza shops that are in SA, the thought was that most are run by foreign nationals who have come to South Africa to seek economic opportunities. But we never had the numbers to back up that feeling.This became a point of major contention in the build-up to South Africa’s national elections at the end of May last year, and a lot of political parties started calling for shops in local communities to be run by South Africans only. Then something strange started happening: more and more cases of food poisoning started popping up.From the beginning of September 2024, a total of 890 reported incidents of food-borne illnesses across all provinces were reported.

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