ActionSA Constituency Chairperson in the Joburg Region, Cllr Siyabonga Zwane, says the recent spaza shops fatalities are due to lack of decisive preventative action from the law enforcement authorities.
“A year ago, ActionSA called for the deployment of health inspectors, immigration and SARS officials to inspect spaza shops in Naledi, Soweto, following similar tragic incidents where children’s lives were lost after allegedly consuming biscuits purchased from a spaza shop owned by a foreign national,” he said.
On Sunday, 6 October 2024, it is alleged that eight children aged between 6 and 10 years lost their lives after eating snacks they had bought from another one of the township’s spaza shops run by foreign nationals.
The children reportedly died after showing symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting, and frothing at the mouth, soon after they had consumed the snacks.
Zwane said the normalization of such tragedies in South African townships is deeply concerning, adding that these are the results of poor oversight.
“Over time, local spaza shops have been predominantly taken over by foreign nationals, and yet health inspections on these premises have not been conducted regularly. This failure has left South African communities exposed to significant health risks stemming from poor conditions in these spaza shops.
“We strongly believe that had the health department and SAPS acted decisively when we raised this issue last year, these young innocent lives would have been preserved,” said Zwane.
He called on the government to urgently deploy labour inspectors, law enforcement officers and SARS officials to conduct regular checks in spaza shops owned by foreign nationals.
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