Investigations traced the source of the poisoning to several supermarkets and shops, highlighting that the sector has long evaded regulatory oversight.
BusinessTech reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa, during his annual address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), outlined the scale of the crackdown, emphasizing the government’s commitment to addressing public safety and health concerns related to the spaza shop industry.
In a recent update, six young children tragically died shortly after consuming snacks bought from a corner store.
According to the New York Times, all the children, aged under eight, began convulsing and died shortly after, adding to a growing number of victims in a wave of food poisoning that authorities say has claimed the lives of nearly two dozen children in recent months.
The report further states that at least 890 people, many of them children, have been affected by this crisis.
President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed that the suspected cause of the poisoning was a pesticide used by business owners and vendors to combat a rat infestation in neglected townships.
The President also revealed that during the investigation into the deaths of the six children, South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases detected traces of terbufos, a dangerous pesticide commonly used in agriculture, on both the contents and packaging of a snack found with one of the children.
A separate report by News24 provides a sobering account of the findings uncovered by the inspection team in several spaza shops.
The report stated that an inspection led by Ward 56 Councillor. Cheslyn Steenberg, Kensington police, and members of the City’s environmental department uncovered alarming conditions during a visit to one of the shops
Steenberg said: “We found some products that were expired and had mould on it, and could not be used for human consumption. One shop did not have a pest-control certificate. At another takeaway a walk-in fridge was converted into a bedroom. We found fermenting potatoes, which had been cut and left in water. There were flies in the kitchen, and there were frozen unlabelled products, an indication that they had been in the fridge for quite some time.”
In response, authorities launched a widespread enforcement operation, raiding thousands of premises.
Over a two-week period, nearly 200,000 spaza shops, supermarkets, and warehouses were inspected as part of the effort to address the issue.
“More than 1,000 spaza shops, supermarkets, and warehouses have had to be closed down, large quantities of goods have been confiscated, and numerous fines have been levied and issued for violations of bylaws,” Ramaphosa added.
Many of these businesses were found to be in violation of food safety regulations and municipal bylaws, resulting in closures, confiscations, and penalties.
