Spaza shops given three weeks to register

Spaza shops in South Africa have been given 21 days to register with their municipalities or face closure.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced this last night during an address, some slam as long overdue, on government’s measures to tackle the recent wave of food poisoning incidents that have claimed the lives of the country’s young children.

“All spaza shops and other food handling facilities must be register within the municipalities they operate, within 21 days from today. Any shop that is not registered within 21 days and does not meet all health standards and requirements, will be closed,” said the President.

He says since September, there have been 890 reported food borne incidents, which have claimed the lives of at least 22 children, with the youngest being six years old.

“The spaza shops which have been implicated in the deaths of children, will be closed with immediate effect,” he said.

President Ramaphosa says SAPS detectives, health officials, environmental inspectors, as well as officials representing the Department of Agriculture and National Consumer Commission were summoned shortly after the concerning wave of reported food contamination deaths for an urgent address.

“The said departments returned to Cabinet with a report from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, which reveals that six deaths of children in Naledi, Soweto, are directly attributed to a highly hazardous pesticide, Terbufos, which has the potential to be lethal even at low levels of exposure,” he added.

The President says three spaza shops in Naledi tested positive for Terbufos, which the outlets used to relinquish rats.

According to him, the inspectors who were dispatched to different spaza shops in the area, confiscated an undisclosed number of pesticides.

“As part of investigations in the Naledi deaths, inspectors confiscated a number of illegal pesticides from spaza shops.”

President Ramphosa  also recalled that in 2023, six children from Ekurhuleni and Soweto also succumbed to food borne ailments after being exposed to Aldicarb, notoriously known as “Halephirimi,” which is commonly sold by hawkers and vendors to control rat infestations.

“Aldicarb pesticides has been banned for use in South Africa since 2016,” says President Ramaphosa.

Additional interventions mentioned in the president’s address include:

• Law enforcement agencies are required to charge offenders who breach outlet regulation laws and will involve close cooperation with registered manufacturers and suppliers.
• Regular inspections of food handling facilities, manufactures, distributors, wholesalers and retailers will be conducted by multidisciplinary inspection teams, starting with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
• All registered manufacturers of Terbufos will be inspected to ensure that all products are not diverted into the non-agricultural market. The supply chain process for distribution and sale of Terbufos will be investigated to ensure that controls are being adhered to and that there is accountability for who they sell it to.

The President also added that the government aims to strengthen regulations and protocols on the traceability, repackaging, distribution and sale of pesticides, insecticides, and foodstuff.

President Ramaphosa also encouraged citizens to report fake and expired food stuffs being sold in communities to the National Consumer Commission.

“By working together, by enforcing the law, by being alert and responsible, we will be able to bring an end to these tragedies” says President Ramaphosa. Written by Odirile Rabolao