Immigrants make an enormous contribution to the food security in South Africa

For more than 12 years the Department of Science and Innovation-National Research Foundation Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS), a national research centre, has supported a wide range of research into food and nutrition security in South Africa. Some of this research has been focused on micro-enterprises, such as street vendors and spaza shops, and their contribution to the food system, especially in low-income areas.

Our research, conducted across the country, has demonstrated, with certainty, that street vendors make fresh produce more accessible to citizens, through selling at lower per-unit prices, as well as selling close to where people live or work and in small quantities that people can afford. Many also provide credit to customers they know. In short, street vendors are crucial to an accessible and equitable food system for all.

Diving deeper into our data, and based on tracking prices over two years, we found that, per kilogram, street vendors were selling eight different fruits and vegetables for an average of 32.7% less than formal-sector outlets. On a range of everyday food items – such as potatoes, onions and tomatoes – people would have to pay more than 50% more per kilogram if they bought from a supermarket instead of a street vendor. And yes, many of those vendors are originally from other countries – from other parts of our continent and further afield.

As the CoE-FS, we have also found that spaza shops are making maize meal more accessible, a staple in many of our kitchens. The same popular maize meal brands have invariably been cheaper from spaza shops than from supermarkets. The same brand, the same quality, but cheaper in the spaza shop, just a few minutes from where you live, compared with the price in a supermarket in a more-distant mall. Even more affordable are the wholesalers that supply spaza shops and also sell to the public.

We have also found a range of affordable and popular maize meal brands in each area where we are doing research. These come from very well-run, family-owned millers rather than the big corporate millers. We have also checked the expiry dates and quality of maize meal in spaza shops and found them good. We can’t say every spaza shop is selling good-quality and safe products, but most are. And yes, many of the people running these spazas and wholesalers have come to South Africa from other countries.

Given the widespread poverty in South Africa, anything that makes food easier to buy is helping to reduce food insecurity. Spaza shops and street vendors are making food more accessible and millions of South Africans are benefiting from that.

Most South Africans are decent people and those living in townships and informal settlements also appreciate and know the person selling fruits and vegetables on their street, or selling maize meal and other items in the spaza shop down the road. Many of these people who have come from other countries – and now contribute to food and nutrition security and our economy – have been in South Africa for decades. Many have the legal documents to be here. They are often embedded in local communities. They also sell and buy in these local communities, adding further value to the economy.

Importantly, immigrants in South Africa are showing that it is possible to outcompete the supermarkets and other formal retailers. They have brought business models we can all learn from. They are showing us that another way of structuring our economy is possible, and it does not depend on large corporations and international investors. This is critically important in an economy so dominated by a few big corporations that are using their dominant positions to increase prices and profits. Even if you choose to buy in a supermarket, you are benefiting from the competition of many micro-enterprises that create competition. If you can’t afford the prices in the supermarket and the transport to get there, the local vendor and spaza are lifelines.

We don’t have food deserts in South Africa, as they do in many low-income areas of the US and parts of Europe, because we have the entrepreneurial spirit of these food retailers.

That immigrants take up dominant positions in some parts of the economy is not strange or unusual; it happens around the world. This is because, often, these immigrants don’t have other economic opportunities that the citizens of the country have and also, in some cases, because they bring a perspective and skills that help them to succeed. Just like in many countries around the world, South Africa today is made up of waves of different immigrants who have come here over many centuries and contributed to building and making the country what it is.

For example, in the 1800s, we saw across South Africa the Jewish itinerant traders and trading store owners, many of whom were fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe. The descendants of some of these traders went on to become corporate leaders in the country. In the 1900s, many peo…