ANC elections head Fikile Mbalula took a swipe at Minister of Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu on Thursday‚ accusing her of ignoring township small businesses.

Mbalula was addressing residents of Soweto at the Orlando Community Hall in the wake the violent attacks on foreign shop owners several weeks ago.

Mbalula said the small business development department was established in 2009 to address challenges such as those faced by local business owners in Soweto.

However‚ he said‚ Zulu was nowhere to be seen when she ought to be. Instead‚ she was busy with events in urban areas such as Sandton.

"The other day she was complaining saying she cannot even buy shoes [because] there's no money in that ministry‚" said Mbalula.

He added: "That ministry must come down [to the townships] and stop chasing after Sandton people. The minister is nowhere but this is the space of that ministry.

“There's a ministry of SMMEs but spaza shops have fallen. How can we allow that? How do we fix it?”