By Tswelopele Makoe

During the recent months of September and October, the nation has been contending with a chilling trend of the deaths of children from food poisoning.

Seventy-four high school pupils in the West Rand in Gauteng were admitted to hospital after a suspected food poisoning outbreak. Shortly prior to this, a handful of children were announced dead in Naledi, Soweto, in a recurring food poisoning incident.

By the beginning of September alone, media reported that over 207 food poisoning cases – including 10 deaths – have been reported across Gauteng alone since the beginning of February.

What’s truly deplorable is that these cases seem to disproportionately affect children. More egregiously, these food poisoning cases stem from food supplied by local vendors and spaza shops.

Recently, after two children, siblings aged four and six years, died after they succumbed to a suspected food-borne illness from potato chips, the Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba called on municipalities to amplify their enforcement of regulations pertaining to hygiene and safe food practices, particularly in local spaza shops.

The perpetual re-occurrence of deaths as a result of hazardous food products is an issue that has been repeatedly occurring over the recent years. What is evident is that these incidents are proliferating in frequency and intensity.

More recently, the incessant occurrence of deaths amongst young children as a result of these malpractices has sparked widespread uproar.

Both citizens and members of governance have called for stricter law enforcement and vigorous inspections to thwart the sale of toxic, life-threatening products.

The chairperson of the Gauteng provincial legislature’s portfolio committee on community safety, Dr Bandile Masuku, attested this widespread loss of life to the failures of law enforcement – particularly their inadequacy in conducting regular inspections and ensuring lawful compliance of food regulations by local spaza shops.

Masuku emphasised that the Department of Health is responsible for ensuring that all food products sold by spaza shops are safe for consumption and that “this lack of monitoring puts communities at risk and undermines the very fabric of public health and safety”, Masuku said.

Indeed, food safety is vital to a healthy and prosperous society and should not be undermined in the slightest.

Food safety is, in fact, a cornerstone of public health, ensuring that the food we consume is free from harmful pathogens, contaminants, and toxins that lead to illnesses, disabilities, and death.

Every year, millions of people across the world suffer from foodborne illnesses. Many of these illnesses can result in long-term health complications, hospitalisations, and significant economic costs. This ultimately affects citizens of all ages and can arduously impact entire households and communities.

Proper food safety practices—from production to consumption—help minimise these risks by controlling factors such as temperature, sanitation, and proper handling. For society, maintaining these standards is not only a matter of preventing outbreaks but also preserving trust in the food supply chain, which is essential for both public health and economic stability.

In addition to safeguarding individual health, food safety is integral to maintaining the integrity of the food industry itself. Contaminated or spoilt products can lead to recalls, damage to brand reputation, and severe financial losses for businesses, particularly in the global market where foodborne pathogens can quickly spread across borders.

Furthermore, as the world contends with major challenges, such as climate change and increased food production demands, robust food safety systems have become even more critical to ensuring secure and sustainable food safety practices.

We have reached a critical juncture where the government needs to take accountability for the consequences of nefarious food practices. As a regulatory body, it is in the onus of the Health Department to protect our society from vendors and suppliers that risk public health in order to make a quick buck.

The nefarious dealings of local spaza shops have been widely reported on in recent years and seemingly are not being addressed or alleviated.

Local vendors and spaza shops are rampant across SA, often seen as convenient and affordable sources of food in many communities. However, they are contributing to a growing health crisis by selling unsafe, toxic products.

This does not bode well for us as a society, with an already-strained public health system. This further speaks to a deeper issue of corruption and neglect at the hands of our governance – those who should be holding these shops accountable.

Spaza shops are convenient and oftentimes the only option to attain food and goods, particularly for those who live in remote and rural areas, villages, townships, and many other places where large conglomerate stores are too far to travel.

This, however, has given them the opportunity to monopolise food prices and disregard food safety practices.

Manipulating the desperation of citizens of need food products from them is, in itself, a highly unethical and dangerous practice.

What’s worse is that these shops are not held to the same vigorous standards that many established businesses are held to, allowing them to tamper with products for the sake of profit.

This includes changing the expiration dates, manufacturing their own products such as cold drinks, snacks, hygiene products, batteries, medications, and many more.

This willy-nilly approach to safety practices is directly related to the rates of deaths in our society.

Furthermore, these shops often lack proper refrigeration and sanitation, with many being accused of selling contaminated food products with rodent droppings, strange chemicals, and even life-threatening ingredients in them.

Some cases have been reported where vendors have resorted to shockingly illegal practices, such as using toxic preservatives or harmful additives to extend shelf life or improve appearance, all at the expense of consumer safety.

Some of these shops also sell readily available foods, which oftentimes consist of expired and unregulated meats, generating dangerous bacteria and pathogens and critically increasing the likelihood of foodborne illnesses.

Ultimately, the lack of stringent regulations in local spaza shops means that many consumers can die from avoidable illnesses and diseases. This means that a simple headache pill or a pack of chips can lead to the death of scores of people every single day.

The consequences of these foods are too risky to overlook. The rising incidences of food poisoning, chronic health issues, and deaths not only disproportionately affect vulnerable communities who rely on these informal outlets for their daily sustenance but also strain our local healthcare systems and create widespread panic, which can almost always result in violence and uprisings.

Our government, our Department of Health, has a responsibility to ensure that our food is safe and healthy for consumption. This is not only a mandate but also a duty and right that is bestowed by our nation’s constitution. Furthermore, the silence of our leaders in governance cannot be overlooked in light of these deaths.

Children must be protected at all costs. Local shops are there to generate a profit and will do so at the cost of human lives. We cannot live in a system where flocks of citizens can drop dead from simple snacks, and our governance turns the other cheek.

The Gauteng Office of Consumer Affairs has urged communities not to buy or eat products that are not clearly labelled, but more importantly, to report these nefarious businesses to the provincial department of economic development.

Killing is a crime and should never be overlooked, no matter the size or formality of the business. It is most certainly a joint responsibility of the citizens of our nation to be vigilant about what is consumed and from whence it came.

In terms of the Consumer Protection Act, consumers have a right to product labelling and trade description, which prohibits suppliers from selling expired goods to consumers or tampering with the expiry dates to mislead consumers.

Among the key red flags to look for is when food products have no date markings, manufacturer contact details, name, and/or address visible on the packaging. If the food products look or taste even slightly different from the standard, they should be discarded and reported immediately.

With proper regulation, monitoring, and consumer education, our entire society can collectively work together to reduce the risks of foodborne diseases and deaths and create a healthier environment for everyone.

As Martin Luther King Jr so proficiently said: “In trying to make a big difference, don't ignore the small daily differences we can make.”

* Tswelopele Makoe is a gender & social justice activist and the editor at Global South Media Network. She is a researcher and columnist, published weekly in the Sunday Independent, Independent Online (IOL), Global South Media Network (GSMN.co.za), Sunday Tribune, and Eswatini Daily News. She is also an Andrew W Mellon scholar, pursuing an MA Ethics at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, UWC. The views expressed are her own.

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