Looted North Coast spaza shops given hope by Salt Rock NGO
THERE was hope for spaza shop owners who had their establishments looted during July’s unrest.
About 150 shops on the Kwazulu-natal North Coast were restocked, and 20 to 30 repaired through the efforts of a Salt Rock NGO.
Kent Vanderyacht and his wife Lyndall, who manage the Hearts That Hope Children’s Home, began repairing and restocking some spaza shops in the township after witnessing the Shayamoya community, in the Kwadukuza area, were unable to get to Ballito to buy groceries.
Friends and fellow congregants began supplying them with food after the couple set up a fund-raising drive on their website.
Vanderyacht said they got a wholesaler on board to assist them.
To date, R1.5 million has been raised, with a further R500 000 expected from the Investic and Angel Network in the coming days.
In the pipeline soon, for Hearts That Hope, was a collaboration with major manufactures and business backers in the province for spaza shops in Durban to be restocked.
“There have been 100 spaza shops ring-fenced for this in Inanda,” said Vanderyacht.
He explained that most spaza shop owners they had helped were foreign nationals.
“They had no one to turn to. When shops are destroyed during xenophobic attacks, they turn for help to other shop owners around them. Some had left KZN and gone to Johannesburg to get help. They have come back after hearing about what we are doing.
“Now we are looking at spaza shops across KZN. When we started, we thought it would be three to four shops. We did not realise how many spaza shops there are in townships. People depend on these,” he said.
“I saw that this could split the country, the racist comments and underlying racial tension. I went home and I thought about what we could do. On Wednesday and Thursday, we went to the townships around us. The one nearest is Shaka’s Head. We found there was no looting. People there were just as terrified as us.
“We learnt that residents from Shayamoya had been coming to the area for groceries following the looting,” he said.
He received donations from Australia, China, Holland, London and New York.
Spaza shop owner Sifay Ashebo said he could not believe it when Hearts that Hope approached him saying they would help him restock.
“I thought it was some kind of joke but it really happened. I was shocked. I had three shops that were looted and a vehicle damaged. Each shop was restocked with supplies worth R7 500. This was a big gift to me because it would have been much more difficult to get my shops running again on my own,” he said.
He explained that his shops were in the area of Ntshawini in Kwadukuza.