Unlock the potential in the township economy:
Every morning, millions of South Africans begin their day much the same way — by stopping at a spaza shop for bread, milk or airtime. These shops, often run by the same families for decades, are more than businesses: they extend credit when times are tough, know their customers by name, and stock exactly what their communities need.
Across townships, mechanics who learned their trade from parents or mentors keep taxis and private cars on the road with expertise that rivals formal garages. And in many neighbourhoods, hair salons operate from converted shipping containers, providing employment for young women and men while doubling as informal community centres where news, support and beauty services are shared.
These businesses are not merely survival strategies or stopgap measures for the unemployed. They represent sophisticated economic ecosystems that have evolved to serve communities with remarkable efficiency, innovation and responsiveness.
Although precise figures for the township economy specifically are difficult to establish, these businesses form a significant portion of South Africa’s broader informal economy, which accounts for 19.5% of total employment and contributes an estimated 6% to the country’s GDP.
Yet even these broader figures underestimate the true economic and social value that township enterprises create. They provide essential services in areas where formal retail has struggled to establish viable operations, create employment opportunities for people who might otherwise remain economically excluded and generate economic activity that circulates in communities rather than extracting value to distant corporate headquarters.
But the full potential of the township economy remains locked behind regulatory barriers, resource constraints and institutional frameworks that fail to recognise the sophisticated business models that have evolved in these communities. Unlocking this potential requires more than simplified compliance processes or designated business zones. It demands a fundamental reimagining of how legal frameworks can serve economic development, moving from regulation-focused approaches toward enablement-focused strategies that build on existing strengths while providing pathways for growth and formal economic integration.
Despite their significance, township businesses continue to operate in legal and regulatory environments never designed for their realities. Current legislative efforts, such as the Standard Draft By-Law for Township Economies, and even the Gauteng Township Economic Development Act, signal growing recognition of the need to support rather than constrain these enterprises. These initiatives provide important foundations, but the full potential of the township economy remains largely untapped as a result of frameworks that prioritise control and compliance over empowerment and enablement.
Enabling frameworks must build on existing strengths
Robust legal frameworks for township businesses must begin with the recognition that these enterprises have already developed sophisticated operational models that effectively serve their communities. These businesses are not blank slates awaiting formalisation; they are dynamic entities with proven strategies and local knowledge.
The challenge is not to transform them to fit formal sector templates, but to create regulatory environments that enhance their existing strengths while removing barriers to growth. This calls for a shift toward what might be termed “economic enablement legislation” — laws designed to eliminate obstacles rather than impose additional requirements.
Such frameworks must address the fundamental resource constraints that limit township business development, while avoiding the creation of new administrative burdens that small enterprises cannot sustain. Streamlined pathways for business legitimisation should focus on outcomes over documentation, community benefit over strict compliance, and practical support over theoretical instruction. Registration processes, for example, must reflect the realities of township operations: many businesses function from home, maintain informal records, and serve customers without formal banking or identification documents.
Zoning and land use regulations are another area where enabling frameworks must accommodate, rather than constrain, existing business models. Township enterprises often thrive precisely because they operate in mixed-use spaces, blurring the line between residential and commercial areas, adapting to seasonal patterns, and staying close to their customer base. Legal frameworks should support flexible zoning that permits mixed-use activity while providing infrastructure enhancements that strengthen, rather than relocate, these enterprises.
Access to formal financial services remains one of the most significant barriers to township business growth, yet current frameworks provide limited remedies.
Effective legislation should facilitate banking relationships for informal businesses, establish alternative credit mechanisms that leverage community-based collateral systems, and create pathways for entrepreneurs to build formal credit histories that can underpin future expansion. Solutions might include government-backed guarantee schemes, community banking initiatives or alternative documentation systems that replace conventional financial records without penalising informal structures.
Perhaps most critically, enabling frameworks must create pathways for market access and integration into supply chains without requiring fundamental changes to operational models. This includes reserving portions of government and large private sector procurement for township businesses, developing supply chain programs that connect small enterprises with larger commercial opportunities, and building market infrastructure that enhances existing trading networks rather than displacing them.
Comprehensive support systems address barriers to growth
Legal reform alone cannot unlock the full potential of township enterprises. Comprehensive support systems are essential to address systemic disadvantages in accessing resources, markets, and growth opportunities.
Effective frameworks must mandate government provision of business development services tailored to township realities, rather than repurposed from formal sector models. Technical assistance should build on existing expertise, financial management support must accommodate informal record-keeping, and marketing guidance should leverage community networks rather than replace them with standard advertising approaches.
Infrastructure development is a critical component of enabling frameworks, yet current legislation only partially addresses it. Many township businesses operate without reliable electricity, water, or telecommunications, constraining their capacity to grow. Legal frameworks must establish obligations for basic infrastructure provision: electricity for home-based enterprises, water access for businesses that require cleaning or food preparation, and digital connectivity that supports online commerce and electronic payments.
Similarly, skills development and training programs require fundamental restructuring to be effective. Traditional training assumes formal education, internet access, and conventional business models. In contrast, township-focused programmes should enhance practical skills already in use while introducing complementary capabilities — financial literacy that accommodates informal records, marketing training that builds on community relationships, and technical skills that allow the adoption of new technologies without disrupting proven operational models.
Integrating township businesses into formal economic structures also requires mechanisms to protect against exploitation or displacement by larger enterprises. Antitrust enforcement, fair contract protections, and market regulation are necessary to ensure that new opportunities expand the local economy rather than allow larger competitors to absorb or eliminate small enterprises. Comprehensive frameworks must ensure that formalisation creates real growth opportunities, safeguarding township entrepreneurs as they navigate expanded markets.
Ultimately, enabling frameworks must do more than regulate, they must empower. By recognising existing strengths, addressing structural constraints, facilitating access to finance and markets, and providing targeted support, these frameworks can transform township businesses into resilient, thriving engines of local economic growth.
Kagiso Mahlangu is Director: Head of Real Estate & Conveyancing at CMS South Africa.
One Battle After Another: The revolution will be cinematic:
One Battle After Another is a damn good movie. So good that it has critics lining up to declare it the best movie, not just of this year, but of the decade. Even after my second viewing, I’m not willing to go that far in my praise, but I can understand the excitement. In an era of endless franchises, sequels and reboots, an original film from a celebrated director with a stellar cast is bound to feel like a breath of fresh air.
Director Paul Thomas Anderson has been a darling of the critics since he emerged on the scene in the mid-to-late 90s and leading man Leonardo DiCaprio has been one of Hollywood’s most recognisable movie stars since around the same time.
Interestingly enough, Anderson had wanted to cast DiCaprio in his second film Boogie Nights (1997) but the role eventually went to Mark Wahlberg after DiCaprio turned it down. That might sound like a historic fumble until you realise the reason he turned it down was to take a role in another little film called Titanic (1997).
Safe to say, Dicaprio doesn’t regret the decision but, nearly 30 years later the director-actor combo have finally got the chance to work together, and on Anderson’s 10th film, no less. It’s hard not to feel like everything worked out as it was supposed to because the film they’ve brought to life is a thrilling experience.
Inspired by the 1990 Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland, One Battle After Another revolves around members of a leftist revolutionary group called the French 75. The film begins at the height of the group’s activities freeing detained migrants from detention centres and bombing politicians’ offices, banks and power stations.
“Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (DiCaprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) are members of the group who become romantically involved. Their romance becomes a love triangle after Commander Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) coerces Hills into a sexual relationship. This leads to the birth of baby girl Charlene (Chase Infiniti) whose paternity later becomes a contentious matter.
Hills is ultimately captured by the police and turns state witness against her comrades to avoid jail time only to flee the country and disappear. Many French 75 members are either hunted down and murdered by the authorities or go into hiding. Pat manages to escape with Charlene to the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross where they assume the new identities of Bob and Willa Ferguson.
This all takes place in just the first 30 minutes of Anderson’s propulsive film. We flash forward 16 years and while Bob has become a paranoid drug addict to cope with the unprocessed trauma of his past, his daughter Willa has grown into a self-reliant and spirited teenager.
Unfortunately, the past is about to rear its ugly head as Steven Lockjaw, now a colonel, hunts them down to cover up his secret interracial relationship. He’s eager to tie up any loose ends which mightthreaten his admission into a white supremacist secret society called the Christmas Adventurers Club.
Once Lockjaw abuses his power to bring the weight of the American military machinery into Baktan Cross, the film hits the accelerator and doesn’t let up until the denouement. That’s the best thing about One Battle After Another — the momentum of the narrative makes its running time of two hours and 42 minutes go by surprisingly quickly. That and the performances.
DiCaprio is the lead but he’s by no means a hero. In his French 75 days he was a bomb expert — hence the nickname “Rocket Man” — responsible for building and detonating the group’s explosives. But now he’s so burnt out, high and paranoid that he spends most of the film being more of a nuisance than a help. Imagine if The Dude from The Big Lebowski had suddenly been dropped into an action thriller.
Meanwhile, Penn plays one of the most detestable onscreen villains I’ve seen in quite some time, a military man with a stick up his ass and delusions of grandeur. He’s a bizarre cross between Vince McMahon and Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. Despite being a virulent racist, he fetishes black women and coerces Hills into a sexual relationship, claiming to love her, in perhaps the film’s most disturbing storyline.
His interaction with his supposed daughter Willa who he calls a “half-breed” is no less uncomfortable. The young Infiniti deserves a special mention for her performance as Willa in what is only her second role after last year’s series Presumed Innocent. She has arguably the most interesting character arc of the film as whatever childhood innocence she had been able to maintain under the circumstances is thoroughly tested through the course of this film.
Another well-deserved shoutout goes to Benecio Del Toro who plays Sergio St. Carlos, Willa’s karate sensei and a community leader who’s helping migrant families to cross the border — “a Latino Harriet Tubman situation”, as he describes it.
He’s not on screen for long but Del Toro delivers the kind of memorable limited performance that in any other situation might have earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but that will probably go to Penn. Carlos is cool, calm and collected, even as the streets erupt into violent clashes between protesters and soldiers and his own home is being raided.
“We’ve been laid siege for hundreds of years,” he calmly says in the midst of the chaos, providing a perfect contrast to Bob who is constantly jittery and bumbling.
That’s another thing about this movie — it’s hilarious. Despite the harrowing events, it manages to blend in some great comedic moments. The best of these might be the long back-and-forth Bob has with a French 75 phone operator who refuses to give him any information on the whereabouts of his daughter until he provides the secret codes to confirm his identity. The only problem is Bob has long since forgotten these codes in his drug-infused stupor.
Regina Hall (Deandre) also deserves a special shoutout for a small but consequential role as another French 75 member. But the most important role in this film, after DiCaprio’s, is Taylor’s because, despite being absent for most of its running time, her character lays the groundwork for the entire narrative. Perfidia Beverly Hills is fierce, determined and self-possessed.
She’s the real powder keg that gives the first 30 minutes of this film its explosive energy but the way her narrative is left hanging leaves serious unanswered questions about her motivations and character. Nonetheless, Teyana’s performance proves that, despite still being known primarily for her work as a musician, she has some serious dramatic chops.
One Battle After Another doesn’t spend a great deal of time exploring the French 75’s political ideals but their activities and the phrase Hills yells early in the film: “Free borders. Free choices. Free from fear!” tells us a lot. That is a timely message as this year we’ve seen mass protests in the US against the widespread ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and deportation efforts that have unfairly targeted many US citizens of colour.
At its heart, One Battle Another is a film about the bond between a father and daughter and what kind of world one generation wants to leave for the one that comes after it. I came away with the feeling that the title is a nod to the idea that creating a better world is always going to involve some level of struggle and that one needs to remain prepared to keep fighting yet somehow find joy in the midst of that fight. It’s a great film. See it in a cinema if you can.
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