“This Is Wrong”: SA Man Has Mzansi Concerned After Sharing Woolies Is Taking Over School Tuckshops

• Woolworths is quietly taking full control of tuckshops at two Cape Town private schools, with plans that could see even more schools follow in the near future
• South Africans are pushing back hard after a viral post revealed that small community tuckshop operators stand to lose their school contracts to the retail giant
• The fully cashless tuckshop model runs on an app that lets parents monitor and control every single purchase their child makes at school

The days of slap chips, Lays, and loose change at the school tuckshop are numbered. Woolworths is now running tuckshops at two Cape Town private schools. The move has South Africans talking, and not all of them are happy about it.

Marketing specialist Hamzeh Majiet brought the conversation to a wider audience on 11 April 2026. He posted a clip on Instagram breaking down how Woolworths had been expanding its tuckshop presence at Western Cape private schools. Springfield Convent in Wynberg was the first school to partner with the retailer back in 2023. Curro Century City in Cape Town followed in January 2026. Both tuckshops are fully operated by Woolworths staff and are completely cashless.

Read also

"That’s a lie": SA entrepreneur ranks the cheapest cities to live in, leaves Mzansi divided

From the shelf to the school gate

Woolworths has been growing a division called Woolworths Ventures for some time now. That division runs everything from coffee shops to pet stores. The tuckshop play sits firmly inside that broader strategy. A pilot at Springfield Convent delivered strong enough results to push the model forward at Curro Century City.

The Curro tuckshop runs entirely through the Karri app. Parents can track spending, pre-order meals, and load funds onto the platform. Learners pay using bank cards or the app itself. There is no cash involved and no coins rattling around in school bags anymore.

The post that started the fire

When Majiet laid out what the tuckshop expansion meant in practice, the comments section filled up fast. Many South Africans were not impressed by what they heard. The pushback was not about the quality of the food on offer. It was about who gets squeezed out when a corporate giant moves into the school space.

Read also

"What a relief": Mzansi finally gets reprieve from spam calls as South Africa passes new law

Small business operators have long depended on school tuckshops to make a living. One person typically runs the tuckshop, sources stock from local suppliers, and keeps money circulating in the community. A Woolworths operation changes all of that overnight. The revenue goes to a JSE-listed company, and the community supplier relationships disappear. The pricing reflects a premium brand and not a neighbourhood hustle built over the years.

As reported by BusinessTech, the company said that it is still learning from the two existing locations and has not confirmed plans for a national rollout.

See the Instagram clip below:

Mzansi pushes back against the initiative

Briefly News compiled some comments from the post below.

@leyla_kajee commented:

“This is very wrong. 😮 These should be independent local businesses.”

@torioffixial wrote:

On the other side, how about closing doors on local businesses and crashing the informal trading market while at it. I mean some old mama could have filled that gap. Woolies could have then partnered with them to provide healthier options.🤦🏾‍♂️”

@moketeratlabala said:

“Small businesses are being killed in this country everyday. What's next?”

@nyezilwezulu1 highlighted:

“I hope this fails, this is something that locals should be sponsored to do.”

@dr_nazeefah commented:

“What nonsense is this? This opportunity could have been given to local businesses also offering healthier options. But it’s the Woolworths cult.”

Read also

"Very rare scenes": SA reacts to Eastern Cape triplets graduating together with law degrees from UFS

More about Woolies

• A KwaZulu-Natal man shared a video showing off the Woolworths products he bought and stored in his fridge.
• A Cape Town woman found miniature Woolworths products being sold as Christmas tree ornaments in a store.
• A young man tried to add to the Vusi Cata Matlala Woolworths bags trend after calling them his money bags.

Source: Briefly News