While efforts to regulate spaza shops have been welcomed, roleplayers in the informal sector say the 21-day window for re-registration is insufficient and that the government should be partnering with them as stakeholders, given their extensive networks on the ground.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced plans at the weekend to address the recurring food-borne illnesses linked to pesticides that claimed the lives of at least 22 children across the country.
According to the president, there have been a total of 890 reported incidents of food-borne illnesses across all provinces since September.
“As soon as the deaths occurred, multidisciplinary teams in government were activated to address these incidents. These teams included detectives from the South African Police Service, health officials, environmental inspectors, Department of Agriculture officials and officials from the National Consumer Commission.
Cabinet has met on three occasions to receive reports from these departments on the recent incidents,” he said.
After tests by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, it was confirmed that the deaths of six children in Naledi, Soweto were directly attributed to a highly hazardous chemical used as a pesticide known as Terbufos.
Ramaphosa said: “Terbufos is being informally sold as a so-called ‘street pesticide’ for domestic use in townships and informal settlements to control rats.
The problem of rat infestation is due in part to poor waste management in several municipalities. Rubbish is not collected regularly, streets are not being cleaned, creating conditions for rats and other pests to thrive.
“Often, the poorest communities are the worst affected, and often the cheapest remedies that are used are these highly hazardous substances like Terbufos and Aldicarb.”
He said that the investigations did not find any deliberate campaign to poison children in the country, or evidence that the problem was confined to spaza shops owned by foreign nationals only.
Authorities are implementing stringent measures including the immediate closure of spaza shops linked to the deaths of children.
“All spaza shops and other food handling facilities must be registered within the municipalities in which they operate within 21 days from today. Any shop that is not registered within 21 days and does not meet all health standards and requirements will be closed,” the president said.
A door-to-door inspection campaign targeting spaza shops and informal traders will also commence, starting in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
National Informal Traders Alliance of South Africa (Nitasa) president Rosheda Muller said they welcomed the initiatives but were calling for government to include them in its efforts.
“On the registration, in 21 days it is highly impossible. In Cape Town, traders have to go online to apply for a permit and then they sit on a waiting list for two to three years and they don’t get answers. Officials are so few. They do not have the capacity.
“We are saying as Nitasa, we are organised structures on the ground, capacitate us. Give us the resources and we will be the partner to government to implement and check up on thousands of shops on the ground. We can do that but government does not even consult national movements like Nitasa,” Muller said.
“Nitasa stands first to say we represent nationally informal traders, we extend our hand in collaboration.”
South African National Civic Organisation’s Kwena Mangoato added: “We appreciate the effort by the president but 21 days is not enough time. The responsibility will be with municipalities to ensure it is implemented.”
Cape Times