November 25th (AMSP/CGTN) – – Since September, almost 1,000 incidents of food-borne illnesses have been reported in South Africa. Over the past few weeks, the country has seen at least 22 children die after eating contaminated food bought from their local spaza shops.
Another alleged food poisoning incident claimed a five-year-old’s life earlier this week. The boy from Diepkloof, Soweto, died after he ate snacks bought from a spaza shop owned by a foreign national. Many spaza shops in South Africa are owned by foreign nationals. And now locals are directing their anger at them, as well as the government.
“Obviously, we are saddened by the unfortunate incident, but as you know it is not the first and since our government keeps protecting them, it means it’s not the last. I mean the community here in Diepsloot closed this particular shop three times and they decided to close. We have a big problem, they are the ones that continuously let these people continue to operate their businesses. I think the government needs to take a stand and give them a harsh punishment for all this because we can’t keep losing our children,” one of the locals said.
“I feel so, so heartbroken. This is so painful. This is uncalled-for. And this is so emotional. It’s hurting. It’s breaking everybody’s heart,” another local expressed her anger.
Others caution against acting unlawfully. “We are angry. Yes, we are sad and we are concerned. We are worried. But it doesn’t mean that we must act irrationally. It doesn’t mean that we must act outside the ambit of the law.
It doesn’t mean that we must affect the livelihood of good citizens who are adhering to the required standards and the laws,” said Lebogang Maile, Gauteng MEC, Finance and Economic Development.
A few days ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the closure of the spaza shops implicated in the deaths of the children. He called on all spaza shop owners to reapply for permits to operate.
“Why not close the whole tuckshops now so that they can start with their re-application? Right now we’ve got tuckshops that are still open and kids are still dying. What does that tell you?,” Diepsloot Community Leader Sello Mbelebele expressed his wonder.
The government has responded and says that it remains committed to addressing the crisis and ensuring accountability.
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