Single-company evidence file · Spaza Shop Support Fund
Esona’s R60,000 approval: the missing checks.
SEDFA’s schedule records an approval on 26 May 2026. The public sources do not establish the applicant’s status on that date or whether support was delivered.
Download PDF edition ↓This finding compares SEDFA’s released schedule with B2BHint, a third-party public company directory. The status displayed on B2BHint does not establish Esona’s status on 26 May 2026, and the schedule’s R60,000 is a combined support-package value—not proof of cash payment or delivery. FixSA makes no allegation of wrongdoing.
What we found
The schedule records a R60,000 package under Esona’s exact name. B2BHint displays deregistration but supplies no effective date.
Why it matters
The directory cannot establish approval-day status. Registration may also be optional at this package level, so that display alone cannot settle eligibility.
The open question
What applicant identity and eligibility evidence did SEDFA accept on 26 May 2026, and what support was delivered?
Two public records
What SEDFA records. What B2BHint displays.
SEDFA’s disclosed row
- Name
- ESONA SPAZA SHOP
- Approval date
- 26 May 2026
- Province
- Eastern Cape
- District
- O.R. Tambo
- Municipality
- Ngquza Hill
- Total package
- R60,000
The schedule defines the total as stock, a trading system, training and business-development support. It gives no enterprise number, application reference, verification result, delivery date or payment field.
Inspect the schedule ↗B2BHint’s public display
- Name
- ESONA SPAZA SHOP
- Enterprise no.
- K2021492111
- Legal form
- Private company
- Incorporated
- March 2021
- Broad locality
- Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape
- Displayed status
- Inactive; deregistered due to annual-return non-compliance
The page says “last updated 2 years ago” but gives no exact effective date for the displayed status. B2BHint describes CIPC as its source and separately warns that source data or its presentation may contain errors.
Inspect the public company page ↗A necessary distinction
The displayed deregistration status alone does not prove the application was ineligible on 26 May 2026.
The Fund’s public criteria say CIPC registration is optional depending on the enterprise’s funding requirement and required within six months for funding above R80,000. Esona’s schedule row shows a R60,000 package.
That does not make the displayed status irrelevant. It changes the question: if CIPC registration was optional at this package level, which applicant identity, owner-management evidence, municipal registration, operating premises and permit did SEDFA accept?
FixSA finding
The approval-date evidence is missing.
B2BHint supplies no effective deregistration date. Its relative update label cannot establish Esona’s status on 26 May 2026. The missing record is the dated applicant-identity and eligibility assessment used for that approval.
What dated company-status evidence did SEDFA use on the approval date?
Why the answer is missing
SEDFA withheld categories of records that could answer the central questions.
SEDFA’s 7 August PAIA decision says access to individual evaluation files—including scorecards, assessment and due-diligence reports, financial and credit assessments, business plans, financial statements, risk assessments and applicant supporting documents—was refused under sections 34, 36 and 37. A privacy-safe outcome table could disclose criteria checked, dates, results, reason codes and delivery status without publishing the private files.
Approval is not delivery
The released records do not show whether Esona received stock, a trading system, training or business support.
The disclosed row is an approval record with a combined package value. It contains no invoice, supplier record, delivery note, training attendance, disbursement line or current award status.
Five records. One answer.
SEDFA can make this approval auditable.
Publish the dated outcomes, not the private application file. Until then, File 012 remains an unresolved public-funding approval.
- 01The dated company-status record
What official status did SEDFA verify for the applicant on 26 May 2026, and what was the effective date of that status?
- 02The identity used in the application
Which legal identity and application reference were assessed under the name ESONA SPAZA SHOP?
- 03The shop, permit and site visit
Which Ngquza Hill trading site was inspected, when was the visit completed, and what municipal-registration or permit outcome was accepted?
- 04The approval decision
Which eligibility checks passed, under what delegated authority was the package approved, and was the decision later amended, suspended or cancelled?
- 05The delivery record
What stock, trading system, training and business-development support was actually delivered, on which dates, and at what final value?
Supporting check: the related-company search and its limits
Related-company check
One public officer link. No second exact fund-list match found.
B2BHint’s public Esona page lists Cynthia Ntombencinci Mabovula as a director and links the same officer to Mabovula Holdings, enterprise number K2018367360. The directory displays current and historic same-name officer entries; FixSA treats them as one person-level lead, not two different people.
FixSA checked Mabovula Holdings against the 162-row SEDFA schedule and the 109-row September approval annexure. No second exact company-name or enterprise-number listing was identified. This does not establish that the related company never applied for or received support through another undisclosed list or trading name.
Inspect the related-company page ↗Inspect the evidence
Public sources used.
Every factual field in this finding is tied to an open page. FixSA excludes exact tax identifiers, private portal-only data, residential or unverified street addresses and contact details not independently presented as business-facing.
Right of reply and corrections
FixSA invites Esona and SEDFA to provide the missing dates and records.
Documented responses and corrections can be sent to fixsaza@gmail.com. Verified material will be attributed and added to the evidence trail.