KZN will probe more spaza shops after poisoning deaths, says premier

The KwaZulu-Natal government will intensify its operations on spaza shops and undocumented foreign shop owners amid three new suspected food poisoning deaths.

The deaths occurred in the Umzumbe municipality on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, where three children aged between two and 11 years died. Their grandmother is in hospital.

“Even though postmortem results are yet to confirm the cause of death, it is believed the victims fell ill and died because of food poisoning. It is reported that the family dog ate the same food and died. The family had been making a living out of collecting waste for recycling,” said premier Thami Ntuli in Durban on Thursday.

Ntuli said the provincial executive committee had called a special meeting of municipalities in Durban on Friday to ensure spaza shops complied with bylaws. He said the discussions would cover spaza shop raids with environmental health practitioners, as well as law enforcement by the departments of home affairs, social development and agriculture to check for illicit and expired goods.

“The first expectation is for the plan to be developed at every district municipality to address the undocumented foreign nationals who are illegally operating spaza shops in our province — and also the selling of illicit and expired goods,” he said.

KwaZulu-Natal’s plans fall in line with comments by minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni on Wednesday, after the government was criticised for failing to act on food poisoning cases after the deaths of more than 10 children in the past two months.

“The cabinet was briefed on the food-borne illnesses and fatalities recorded in various parts of the country which led to the deaths of children and resulted in several hospitalisations in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State,” she said.

“The government has prioritised the matter and has escalated it to the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure for intervention. Government assures South Africans our health authorities are investigating this and other cases involving the deaths of young people as a result of suspected food poisoning. Anyone found responsible will be held accountable and prosecuted.”

Ntuli has already been part of a number of similar unannounced operations, mostly aimed at foreign-owned spaza shops in Durban, together with the police, to check the quality of products they sell. The operations have resulted in the confiscation of goods valued at more than R30m and the arrests of a number of undocumented immigrants.

“We will further engage municipalities to collaborate with provincial government in an effort to get back spaza shops owned by undocumented foreign nationals to the people of KwaZulu-Natal,” he said.

They will continue working with provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and the Border Management Agency to conduct similar raids, he added.

“Our message is clear: we will not allow illegal operations and spaza shops to jeopardise the lives of the people of KwaZulu-Natal.”

Ntuli said municipalities were expected to adopt the bylaws that had been recently gazetted by co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Velenkosini Hlabisa to regulate the operation of the spaza shops.

With KwaZulu-Natal being a rural province in the main, Ntuli said the meeting would discuss the balancing act of ensuring that the enforcement of the laws did not completely shut down the economic opportunities of poor vendors.

“The people selling are mostly poor mothers so it’s important that we take an approach that will not destroy the few opportunities they have to put food on their table.

“We hope to help them to source their products in the right places and even support them financially where necessary so that their businesses operate in a manner that does not open them to the sale substances that are detrimental to children.”

TimesLIVE