27/09/2026
This is one of the reasons SAMDDRA was formed.
The concerns raised in this article about billions of rand potentially leaving South Africa through informal commercial and remittance networks should cause us to think much more seriously about the structure of our township and informal economies. The report cited by IOL News estimates that approximately R6.3 billion generated through foreign-owned spaza businesses in Tshwane alone may have been moved out of South Africa through informal channels. These remain allegations that require proper regulatory and law-enforcement scrutiny.
For SAMDDRA, there is an important economic lesson here.
We cannot allow the same structural weaknesses to become entrenched in the mobile devices, accessories, repair and distribution sector.
South Africa imports billions of rand worth of devices, components and accessories every year. If the downstream economy around those products, distribution, retail, repair, refurbishment, accessories and after-sales services is not deliberately developed locally, we risk becoming merely a market for consumption, while much of the economic value generated in our communities fails to translate into local enterprises, jobs, skills and reinvestment.
This is precisely why SAMDDRA is building an enabling ecosystem around South African mobile-device entrepreneurs.
Our objective is not to exclude people on the basis of nationality. Every legitimate business must operate within South African law and meet the same tax, registration and regulatory requirements.
Our objective is to ensure that South Africans are deliberately enabled to own and participate meaningfully across the mobile-device value chain.
That means:
- developing skilled and accredited local technicians;
- building sustainable township and rural repair enterprises;
- creating access to genuine parts, tools and technology;
- establishing certified repair networks;
- strengthening local distribution and retail channels;
- improving access to finance and working capital;
- partnering with OEMs;
- formalising enterprises and strengthening tax compliance; and
- ensuring that more of the value created in South Africa is reinvested in South Africa.
This is what localisation must mean.
It is not simply about where a product is manufactured. It is about who participates in the economic ecosystem surrounding that product, where the value flows, where skills are developed, where profits are reinvested and where jobs are created.
South Africa cannot build an inclusive digital economy if our people remain consumers at the end of somebody else's value chain.
We must move from consumption to participation, from participation to ownership, and from ownership to sustainable local industries.
That is the work SAMDDRA is determined to continue.
A report has raised concerns about billions of rand allegedly leaving South Africa through informal remittance networks linked to the township economy.
