Buthelezi, Jabulani2024-07-022024-07-022023-03Buthelezi, Jabulani. (2023). The effectiveness of the Gauteng Informal Business Upliftment Strategy on spaza shops operating in the Alexandra Township, South Africa [Master’s dissertation PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/38813https://hdl.handle.net/10539/38813A Research Project submitted to the School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Public Policy.2023The competitiveness and profitability of spaza shops owned by South Africans which operate in townships has been eroded by the settling of large retailers and immigrant owned spaza shops. With this challenge in mind, the Gauteng Department of Economic Development (GDED) developed the Gauteng Informal Business Upliftment Strategy GIBUS). The overarching objective of this policy is to develop informal businesses such that they become more productive, competitive, profitable and are able to create employment (GIBUS, 2015). Spaza shops that operate in the Alexandra Township are faced with unbearable competition due to the large retailers that have settled into both the Pan African and the Alexandra Mall. This challenge as experienced by South African spaza shop owners has also been exacerbated by the infiltration of immigrant owned spaza shops. In this regard, the purpose of this research study is to examine the effectiveness of the GIBUS in improving the competitiveness and profitability of spaza shops owned by South Africans in the Alexandra Township. This research study follows a positivism paradigm. Quantitative research techniques were used for the purpose of data collection and analysis. The research design applied is cross- sectional. A questionnaire was used for the purposes of data collection and non-random purposive sampling was applied as a sampling strategy. The results from this research study indicate that for the majority of the respondents, their revenue did not increase and that they were also not able to create employment opportunities. This is against the backdrop of them having received both non-financial and financial support from the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller. Therefore, the support received did not assist them into being more competitive and profitable. This research study recommends that the both the non-financial and the financial programmes of the GIBUS be amended and be implemented more rigorously. In addition to this, accompanying initiatives to both the financial and non-financial programmes are recommendeden© 2023 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Gauteng lnfonnal Business Upliftment StrategyAlexandra TownshipSpaza ShopInformal Business UpliftmentUCTDSDG-8: Decent work and economic growthDissertationUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg