Abstract
Spaza shops, which are ‘small convenience stores’, play an integral part in many township economies within low-income earning societies in South Africa. These micro-enterprises act as providers of basic groceries and home essentials to those societies. Recent studies and reports show that there has been a dwindling case of South African-owned spaza shops, while those operated and owned by foreign nationals are reportedly growing and increasing in volume in certain township areas. Trade practices such as ‘coopetition’ – the use of social networks and collaborating with competition – has been cited as the differentiating factor that gives foreign national spaza shop owners the competitive advantage. Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore how local government can assist South African- owned spaza shops to be sustainable and grow through the local economic development (LED) agenda. The aim, therefore, was to create a practical strategy for LED practitioners to enable competitiveness and promote the sustainability of South African spaza shops in the Tembisa and Ivory Park townships within the Ekurhuleni and City of Johannesburg municipalities...