In supporting local businesses to trade in line with health protocols during the pandemic, the City of Cape Town in partnership with the Western Cape Government are in the process of issuing COVID-19 safety kits to spaza shop owners who are registered with the City and are COVID-19 permit holders. In light of this, Alderman Grant Twigg, the Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Management, visited two of the activation sites today in Milnerton and Atlantis. This initiative is separate to the City’s CPT+U COVID-19 Informal Traders’ Toolkits, which has already issued more than 4 000 toolkits to informal traders.
Approximately 550 spaza shop owners from Atlantis, Dunoon, Langa and Imizamo Yethu have received their COVID-19 safety kits during this week.
This forms part of the City and the Western Cape Government’s efforts to support the sector by aiming to help spaza shops and their customers to do business in a safe environment, compliant with COVID-19 protocols.
This initiative by the Western Cape Government, aims to provide 11 000 COVID-19 Business Safety Kits to small businesses and informal traders.
The Western Cape Government is providing the safety kits and the City has identified the beneficiaries according to our database of City registered spaza shop owners and COVID-19 permit holders. Various City Departments, including Urban Management, the Environmental Health Department, Enterprise and Investment and the Public Participation Unit, are involved with the process ranging from the planning to the distribution of the safety kits.
‘We are very pleased to be partnering with the Western Cape Government to offer these COVID-19 safety kits to help spaza shop owners take the necessary precautions to trade safely as required by the national lockdown regulations. We are committed to doing all we can to support residents, traders and small business owners in providing some reassurance and comfort during the pandemic,’ said Executive Mayor, Dan Plato.
Each safety kit, which is free of charge to spaza shop owners, contains the following items:
- Two litres of hand sanitiser
- 10 cloth masks
- Information on how to operate safely during the pandemic
- Safety kit bag
It is important to note that there are a limited number of safety kits available, so these will be issued on a first-come-first-served basis.
‘As the informal sector and communities ease into level 2 lockdown across the country, various spheres of government need to come together and play a more critical role to support and protect businesses in this sector, such as spaza shops, as they offer essential services in our communities. Spaza shops form a prominent part of our local community’s food supply chain and are an important contributor to sustainable livelihoods and township economies. During this critical time, informal businesses need all the COVID-19 support tools they can possibly get to adhere to the strict COVID-19 protocols aimed at minimising the spread of the virus.
‘We could not be prouder of our collaboration with the Western Cape Government who made this possible so that together, we can assist spaza shop owners to continue to trade and earn a living during the pandemic, while adhering to COVID-19 protocols,’ said Alderman Grant Twigg, Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Management.