The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Collen Malatji, demands action over foreign-owned spaza shops amid the scourge of food poisoning. Picture: Timothy Bernard / African News Agency (ANA)
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Collen Malatji, is calling on the government to provide funding for spaza shops to allow unemployed youth to run their businesses, following the scourge of food poisoning incidents that have claimed lives of school learners.
The country has been hit by the scourge of food poisoning incidents, where learners have died while others were hospitalised after consuming food and snacks brought from illegal spaza shops owned undocumented foreigners.
Malatji’s call comes a few days after Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi revealed alarming statistics about food contamination in spaza shops.
Since January, the province has reported 441 food contamination incidents, and 23 deaths, he said.
Lesufi said the majority of the cases involved children between the ages six and 10 years old, with Ekurhuleni having reported the highest number of incidents, followed by West Rand.
“The majority of deaths were reported from Johannesburg, followed by Ekurhuleni. Seven post-mortem results out of the 19 deaths tested positive for organophosphate,” Lesufi said.
The toxic chemical organophosphate, commonly known as “Halephirimi,” which means “Sun won’t set” is typically found in rat poison and commonly sold by street vendors and spaza shops packed in plastics.
The chemical which is normally used to kill rats, is believed to have caused the deaths of several children.
Malatji said the ANCYL has launched a petition demanding all spaza shops owned by illegal foreigners be turned over to unemployed youth and urging authorities to enforce stricter health regulations.
”We are calling upon municipalities to enforce the by-laws to male sure that all spaza shops in all areas are registered and are compliant to the health regulations,” Malatji said.
He also called on the government to set aside the funding to assist unemployed youth in starting their businesses and help reduce unemployment.
“We are also making a call that all spaza shops businesses must be set aside for South African youth and the South African government must deliberately put aside funding or fund these small businesses to go and open these tuck shops, so that they are able to become a place of employment and business opportunities,” he said.
Malatji demanded immediate shut down of spaza shops owned by undocumented foreigners, following the rise of food poisoning cases.
In addition, Mntuwoxolo Ngudle, ANCYL secretary-general called on authorities to enforce stricter regulations on spaza shops.
“We call on the authorities of our country to regulate spaza shops, so that we don’t contaminate our food (with toxic chemicals) and kill our people through illicit goods and illicit trade that is happening through undocumented spaza shops.”
He also called for urgent passing of legislation under the Disaster Act to tackle the challenges posed by illegal spaza shops.
“We need local authorities, provincial legislatures and the National Assembly to pass legislation very quickly under the Disaster Act, in order that our people are saved from the scourge of food poisoning,” Ngudle said.
He called on the public to support their efforts by signing the petition, which has been launched on the Change.org website.
The petition outlined several priorities that demand urgent action, including a request for all municipalities to audit and publish the data of spaza shops within 30 days, to identify how many are owned by foreign nationals.
“All municipalities with no bylaws must develop bylaws to regulate the township economy. We call for all spaza shops to have a licence and there should be a quota in every area which is favourable to the youth and South Africans,” the petition said.
The petition further demands closure of all spaza shops owned by undocumented foreigners and illegal immigrants must be closed down, and subsequent deportations.
“We call on all spheres of government to make funding opportunities available for youth businesses, Special Events Food Defense Assignment (SEFDA) and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) must create a product to support such initiatives in the township as soon as possible - ASAP.”
The petition added: “All municipalities are undergoing mid term budget adjustment, they must undergo a process of setting aside funds towards youth business development and regulating the township economy.”
The petition also urged the township economy to be reserved for unemployed youth, including full access to markets, stalls, hawkers, spaza shops and street vendors.
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