"Government has ignored small-scale enterprises as rising tensions around immigration continue"

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:07]Welcome back to News in Focus. Now, South Africa continues to grapple with deepening tensions around immigration, economic inclusion, and the future of small-scale enterprises. In recent weeks, protests against illegal immigration have erupted across parts of the country, bringing renewed focus to the pressures facing local businesses, migrant communities, and government policy.

[00:00:30]Now, critics have argued that not enough is being done to meaningfully support small and informal businesses, many of which are vital to township and inner-city economies, while others point to a failure by the state to adequately address the challenges faced by migrants living and working in South Africa.

[00:00:48]Now, this comes at a time where concerns are also being raised across the continent with Nigeria and Ghana being two African countries making contact with the Department of International Relations with regards to its citizens within South Africa.

[00:01:04]To unpack this, we are now joined by Dr. Dale McKinley, spokesperson and member of the Coordinating Committee for Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia. Dr. McKinley, always a pleasure having you on. Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:01:17]Yes, thank you, Ferial. Always a pleasure from my side.

[00:01:19]>> No, no, absolute pleasure. Dr. McKinley, I saw, you know, obviously the panel discussion, your contribution to it on the SABC.

[00:01:28]It's it's it's taken 32 years, Dr. McKinley, and and yet we are still having these conversations when it comes to, you know, small-scale enterprises not being assisted enough. Meanwhile, investment is being done when it comes to larger corporations.

[00:01:46]Why? Why are we still at this stage?

[00:01:49]Well, Ferial, it really goes all the way back to the adoption in 1996 of the GEAR, G E A R, the Growth Employment and macroeconomic strategy. Very, very briefly, what that strategy did was it ensured that our main main fiscal and monetary and other trade policies were beneficial to large corporations, to big capital, and basically said that, you know, if we concentrate on those, it'll trickle down to the bottom. Well, that obviously has not happened. And as a result of that, over the last 25, 30 years, the government's policy towards building small-scale enterprises, particularly black-owned enterprises in townships, has been very, very, how should we say, inadequate.

[00:02:35]And as a result, and as I was trying to point out, it's going to make no difference, very little difference whether or not they're foreign-owned small-scale businesses or South African-owned, because the government policy doesn't support them, and that's where the problem really lies. Instead of scapegoating particular foreign nationals or spaza shop owners, we need to go and get government to change its policies, otherwise we're going to continue to see these very high unemployment rates and a more abundant local economies. You know, Dr. McKinley, an interesting story I got told by someone who lives in the Alex Township is that many of the, you know, immigrants that come and of course settle within South Africa and own spaza shops, you know, they're able to get, you know, produce, like milk and bread, which is of course is essential for every household, and they get it at a good price.

[00:03:23]And what it does do is that it sort of outprices South African-owned spaza shops because they are not getting the funding that is there from government. I don't know if that's something that you've analyzed, but, you know, this is one or two individuals that have gone ahead and told me this, and this is not just in Alex, this is happening in various townships across South Africa.

[00:03:45]How concerning is that from a governmental perspective that, you know, when you listen to the people on the street, these are serious concerns that they are raising.

[00:03:57]Sure, and I think, you know, the serious concerns and we we and Kopanang is very very cognizant of that. We work with the very same communities that are suffering from these consequences.

[00:04:06]Uh but yes to course they're concerned, but we we are saying where the the problem lies. So, let's look at that issue. What has happened as a result of the lack of credit, as a result of the lack of institutional support to small-scale businesses? What you had, for example, is let's take the Somali Trading Association, uh which runs a a range of different spaza shops in our country.

[00:04:28]What they did, understandably and and quite smart, uh was to come together in a collective. And they pool their resources and they pool their capital, and therefore they can buy in bulk and they can take the prices down, and that's how they do that. And so that benefits them because there is no government support. Whereas the South African uh business people are still waiting for that government support. And so the answer to uh reviving local economies and and specifically supporting our own citizens is precisely government policy and we this is where what we're saying to a lot of the the people that are marching, uh you're you're going in the wrong direction. You you can attack the foreigners, you can attack spaza shops, that's not going to change the situation. The situation's needed to to government. Let's put people in that are going to support us and are going to actually take serious the development of local economies and which will create jobs as the migrant uh businesses have shown because the statistics show that they've created for every uh business that's open, they create two to three to four jobs.

[00:05:27]Dr. McKinley, you mentioned something important about the marches that are happening, and of course there are various organizations that are doing this.

[00:05:34]Is it simply convenient for them to go ahead and just target uh a migrants from outside of South Africa because you brought up an important point that the message should be taken to government. I mean, I heard this morning Paul Mashatile making a statement that there's no xenophobia in South Africa, but when you look at the actions that have been happening, you know, over these last few weeks, you know, it it moves in that direction even though it's not officially being declared from a government perspective. The actions of the marchers just really have that sort of feel that it is going ahead and and targeting many of the migrant communities within the country.

[00:06:17]Yes, for us exactly. And and we we call it the weaponizing of the immigration situation, which we've seen in Trump's America, which we've seen in Europe and other places where political parties and politicians pour fuel on the fire because it it benefits them get votes easy and targeting. You target the most vulnerable, those who can't speak for themselves, those who can't really defend themselves, and you do so and you whip up this frenzy of sort of sovereignty of South African-ness in our case or or American-ness or whatever it is.

[00:06:46]And then you you point to the others and and this is very dangerous. What we're saying is not to undermine the legitimate concerns that people have, not to undermine the fact that there are serious economic problems that people are facing and they need to be addressed, not to undermine the fact that we have an dysfunctional immigration system which needs to be reformed. But what we're saying in in the context of and we say this to those who are marching is is that when you travel down that path, not only will you not get any joy, generally speaking, which we've seen over the last 15 years.

[00:07:18]There've been many many anti-immigrant marches and and and violence and targeting of shops over the last 15-20 years. Has that fundamentally changed the situation? No, it hasn't.

[00:07:29]So, in order to redirect that is is is to focus on the state, focus on your on on government, on local government and otherwise, and not the other point that we want to make, is when you also begin to judge people and attack them and increasingly violently bullying on the basis of their nationality, it's one step away from doing that on the basis of gender, on the basis of race, on the basis of religion, on the basis of any other identity. So, we've seen this happening globally. So, our warning is not just simply one in immediate, but it's also if we travel down this road, it's a very dangerous road that takes us back to a past that we that we want to get away from.

[00:08:12]Dr. Mckinley, there are legitimate concerns and it's important that these legitimate concerns get addressed.

[00:08:20]But how important is it and sort of using the word caution that this does not become politicized because there are various political parties out there that can go ahead and actually use this. Some have already done so and use this especially in a year where it's local government elections.

[00:08:41]Yeah, I I think I think we need responsible and mature political leadership. You know, it's one thing to have an opinion and to make an argument and that's fair enough.

[00:08:50]You can say, "Listen, this is what we think. We have policies." But when you weaponize hatred and division on the basis of nationality, you're playing with fire as we've seen before in the past. And I think it's it's it it's the word that we say to our politicians, whether they're not in the ruling party now or in the GNU or wherever they are, is don't go down that road. If you want to get votes, if you want to build your party, build it on the basis of your policies, build it on the basis of delivering to people what they need.

[00:09:21]Don't scapegoat others, whether that's foreign nationals or anyone else for that matter. Take responsibility, tell people what they need and and and promise to make those deliveries on that basis. That's what a democratic system is about. So, in that context, we appeal to our politicians and political parties to act responsibly and not to pour fuel on fires that they will never be able to put out. Dr. Mkhize, one final question.

[00:09:46]We've seen Nigeria and Ghana raising concerns. They've spoken to, of course, the Minister of International Relations, Ronald Lamola. I mean, they have every right to voice their concerns, don't they?

[00:09:59]Absolutely. I think that there is a You know, it's an irony if if in Durban this week there's an international African tourism conference. And here we are in Durban with people marching and attacking the Ghanaians and others. And so, yes, of course, Nigerians, Ghanaians, anyone, any other country, particularly African countries, are concerned about their nationals and about what is going to happen as we would be as South >> [laughter] >> Africans if this was happening to our citizens in other countries. So, that's a legitimate response, and I hope that our government takes it seriously and begins to enforce the law irrespective of who you are. Dr. Tel McKinley, always a pleasure having you on. Thank you so much for joining us. Much appreciated.

[00:10:40]Thanks, for us. That's Dr. Tel McKinley, spokesperson and member of the Coordinating Committee for Kopanong Africa Against Xenophobia. Now, after the break, we're going to be taking an extended interview, and we're going to be focusing on, of course, the current conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran. But, the role of the United Arab Emirates in this also. Now, the UAE has alleged that Iran has been firing drones into many of its areas, Dubai, Abu Dhabi.

[00:11:08]But, Tehran has denied this. And this comes at a time where Abu Dhabi has withdrawn from OPEC, and also its relations with Gulf countries, particularly its neighbor, Saudi Arabia, has become quite hostile, to say the least. I'm going to be speaking to Tembisa Fakude after the break. Do stay tuned.

[00:11:36]>> Mhm.