The way ordinary South Africans deal with suspected food poisoning cases that have led to the deaths of many children has the potential to degenerate and become clumsy. By clumsy I mean the do-it-our-way approach may be accompanied by criminality and devalue the genuine concerns communities have.
On October 6, five school children from Naledi, Soweto – Ida Maama,7, Njabulo Msimango,7, Isago Mabote, 8, Karabo Rampou, 9, and Monica Sebetwana, 6, – died after eating snacks allegedly bought from a spaza shop run by an immigrant.
This allegation was enough to set communities against local spaza shop owners in the area. The ordinary citizen did not care if this was a proven or disputed fact; all they cared to know was that immigrants sold snacks to children which later killed them. And for that, something needed to be done.
In the immediate term, residents wanted to close down the spaza shops, and in the long run, drive the immigrant traders out of their area. The response was to be expected from desperate people seeking to protect their children.
Many other similar incidents have been reported in Bronkhorstspruit, Westonaria and Hammanskraal, albeit with less severe consequences, but headaches, running stomachs, foaming mouths, dizziness and others. There were reported cases in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.
It would be difficult for anyone not to agree that this is a crisis that requires serious government intervention. The department of health put out a statement and noted the incidents were increasing in black communities. The statement noted the concerns of the affected communities that these sudden deaths among young children were because of food poisoning emanating from foodstuffs, particularly snacks, sold at shops run by immigrants.
If claims about immigrants are not attended to by way of urgent intervention, the possibility exists to wrongly accuse foreign nationals of deliberately poisoning children, which I do not believe is what is happening.
With matters that concern children, we should move with speed with laboratory tests for the food and the nature of illnesses they suffer. Ordinary people are closing in on a vacuum that has been left unresolved by responsible officials. In some cases, officials take too long to investigate, and sometimes the conclusions do not relate to the daily lives of people.
Food processing is and should not be the competency of the police. The government has rightly moved in and resolved that the investigations be centrally coordinated by the department of health.
Snacks are the most fancied by primary school going pupils. So, how these are manufactured and packaged, and even the brands, should receive special yet urgent attention. The phenomenon is widespread in SA and coincide with dissatisfaction on immigration and economic opportunities.
These should not be allowed to drag on as they have a potential to be used as an excuse by the ill-meaning among us, to cause conflict with foreign nationals running spaza shops. As happened in Naledi, this serious matter was used as an excuse to loot spaza shops, which in some instances affected the only source of income for an SA family, who sublet their premises for rental income.
The matter needs urgent attention from authorities tasked with quality assurance of the production of foods, processing and packaging. This is where the first intervention and enforcement of controls should happen. In most cases, when one involves the health department and the police, someone is either ill or dead. We do not need to lose another child unnecessarily.
No effort should be spared in protecting young ones, even if that means investigating and banning the deadly food items the spaza shops sell.
*Feni is chairperson of the select committee on education and creative industries
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