Top Western Cape government officials visited Lingelethu Cash Store and Mpumi’s Kitchen, a spaza shop and community kitchen in Khayelitsha, which are participants in the Community Economic Recovery Project.
On Monday 15 February premier Alan Winde and provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities David Maynier visited the two entities.
Launched in September last year, the project has provided 225 community kitchens in Covid-19 hotspots with digital vouchers every two weeks that are then spent at nearby participating spaza shops.
To date more than 135 spaza shops have participated in the project.
As a public-private partnership among the Western Cape government, the DG Murray Trust and the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership (EDP), the project supports vulnerable communities during the Covid-19 pandemic by injecting R3 million into the local economy, and particularly among community kitchens and spaza shops.
Funding for the project has been jointly provided by the Western Cape government, which contributed R2 million, and the DG Murray Trust, which contributed R1 million, of which 100% will be distributed to the beneficiaries by the end of the project.
After meeting with those who have benefited from the Community Economic Recovery Project, Winde said: “This project is an innovative way to support local businesses and ensure we are responding to the humanitarian need in communities at the same time. Throughout the pandemic the Western Cape government has always balanced saving lives with saving livelihoods, and this is just one of a number of ways in which we have helped to support businesses in continuing to operate.”
Winde said this project encompasses two of their key priorities - supporting jobs and dignity and wellbeing.
“In my Sopa address on Wednesday I will be outlining more steps that this government will be taking in response to Covid-19, and to support businesses and grow the economy, and to promote dignity and wellbeing,” he promised.
In addition to benefiting communities in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, this initiative has also been implemented in other areas of Cape Town. such as Atlantis, Elsies River and Mitchells Plain, and other municipalities across the Western Cape, including Breede Valley, Langeberg, Witzenberg, Drakenstein, Overberg, George and Mossel Bay.
Maynier thanked all the partners involved in the project.
“This is a great example of how the public and private sector, together with civil society, can partner quickly, effectively and innovatively in a time of crisis.
“I look forward to our continued efforts to work together to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy so we can save businesses and jobs in the Western Cape,” he said.
