Tests have shown that organophosphate, a toxic chemical found in rat poison, which is colloquially known as halephirimi, was responsible for the death of five children.
While the cities of Ekurhuleni, Joburg and Tshwane have warned about the reckless handling of halephirimi by shop owners, street vendors as well as customers, senior health officials in Ekurhuleni have confirmed that traces of organophosphate were found in the bodies of three children who died in Tsakane and Vosloorus a year ago.
The City of Joburg also confirmed that Leon Jele, 6, and Neo Khang, 4, of Naledi in Soweto, died from organophosphate in October 2023.
Refiloe Usman, 6, from Tsakane died after eating biscuits bought from a spaza shop while Lufuno Musa Bokang, 5, and Dimakatso Tsotsotso, 3, of Vosloorus died after eating chips. At the time it was suspected they may have been killed by what they ate.
The issue of kids dying from poisoning has come under the spotlight following the deaths of five children in Naledi on Sunday after eating snacks.
Director of environmental health in Ekurhuleni, Dr Jerry Chaka, said lab results from both Ekurhuleni cases confirmed the existence of organophosphate in the children's bodies, which he said, was the most common chemical found in cases of poisoned food they have investigated.
He, however, said tests have also shown that there was no link between what the children ate and what killed them, adding that the deceased might have got in contact with organophosphate via a contaminated source or surface.
“In most of the instances, it’s important to indicate there is this organic phosphate that people would use called rat poison and others call it halephrimi and in all those instances we find that people might have consumed this substance. As the results of testing it would be proven that it is rat poison and not food poison,” he said.
The director said halephirimi is an illegal substance sold on the streets in most townships.
“In some instance, people would leave halephirimi in places where they hope it would be consumed by rats; the safety of this is questioned. We are embarking on a campaign to educate people about this, especially because it is an illegal substance. It’s not regulated [even when] people buy it on the streets.
“So we want to educate our communities in terms of this particular substance; action needs to be taken. We need to identify where it comes from, the main seller as people would be selling them in packets in the townships, illegally so. There still needs to be a huge production just to remove it,” said Chaka.
The family of Refiloe in Tsakane told Sowetan this week that they were still struggling to get answers about what killed their child.
“My heart is constantly calling out to Refiloe that I still can’t understand what really happened. As a family, we have not received any reports on what happened to her and we need to move on,” said Refiloe's mom Motshidise Usman.
Last year in Tshepisong, West Rand, four children went out to buy snacks from a taxi rank but two children died after that.
One of the children who passed away was six-year-old Othalive Nkatshuka, whose grandfather Bennie Khopeli said they are yet to know the cause of death.
“We went to the police to ask them to at least provide us with the cause of death. The officer who was handling the case has since told us that he will get back to us after checking the file,” said Khopeli.
Nokuphila Mayeye, whose grandchild Azingce, 2, was friends with Othalive also said they have yet to receive feedback reports from authorities.
“I honestly feel like my wound is being opened because we are really trying to forget the horrible thing that happened to my grandson. A whole year is gone, and when people keep talking about it, I feel like they are opening old wounds.
“We tried following up and the investigators told us that they are still running the investigation and that he could give us no new information. The last time we checked was in May,” said Mayeye.
The issue of food poisoning has come under the spotlight after the deaths of five children in Naledi on Sunday after eating snacks.
Joburg environmental health director, Peter Manganye said samples have been taken with regards to the five children who died in Naledi last Sunday after it was alleged that they died from eating contaminated snacks bought from a spaza shop.
“A team was sent out on Monday to investigate the matter and when we got to the spaza shop, unfortunately, it was so turned upside down by the community but we still managed to get some samples from the alleged chips they had eaten,” he said.
He said the results were expected in a few of days.
“Then we will know for sure whether the alleged source which is the chips is the actual cause of death,” he said.
Manganye also said Neo and Leon from Naledi, who passed on last year, died from organophosphate, which he said reacts quickly and is highly lethal.
“If the substance is applied somewhere and then you touch it and then ingest it, it goes into your [blood] system. If one had placed halephirimi in a box after finishing using it, the box would still be contaminated. The surface that touches the box and swabs the surfaces for analysis the results will come out positive.”
Sowetan team yesterday visited a mall in Thokoza and saw a street vendor selling halephirimi in full view of the public. A small bag costs R5.
Director of health in Tshwane, Jerry Mostamai, said there have never been any deaths in the city related to spaza shops but that there have been allegations. He said tests on sampled food came back negative. – Additional reporting by Koketso Ratsatsi
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