Monwabisi Park

A View of Monwabisi Park

Monwabisi Park is situated on the outskirts of the city of Cape Town. There are an estimated 20,000 people living in an assortment of shacks and other structures, and most aspects of the South African informal economy, including spaza shops, can be found in the park (WPI Cape Town Project Centre, 2008). Currently, the City of Cape Town’s Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Programme (VPUU) is working in Monwabisi Park to develop an in-situ upgrading plan (Baseline Survey, 2009). The VPUU has identified strengthening businesses in the existing economy as a way to promote economic development, and has reached out to the TTO, which specializes in spaza development, to help them enhance these shops (Krause, 2009). While some general research into the spaza market of South Africa has been performed, prior to this project, very little work with spazas ha occurred in Monwabisi Park and the TTO programmes mentioned above have not been implemented there. There is a need to investigate the workings of the spaza market in Monwabisi Park more carefully and to see how the TTO’s existing spaza programmes can be applied or adapted to the area.