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As parents of children who died from food poisoning reel in pain, President Cyril Ramaphosa has offered words of comfort while imploring the public and his government to ensure no more young lives are lost to food-borne illnesses.
Grieving families of children who died from food poisoning in recent weeks detailed feeling helpless as they watched them die. Many of the children died before they could get to hospitals.
In his address to the nation on Friday evening, Ramaphosa said 22 children had died from food poisoning. Since the beginning of September 2024, there have been 890 reported incidents of food-born illnesses in all provinces.
He conveyed condolences to bereaved families: “Few words can adequately convey our sadness and our pain as a nation. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families as they go through the pain and anguish of losing their children. Losing a child is something no parent should ever have to endure. The young children who died weren’t just children of their families, they were our children.”
Last month six children died of food poisoning in Naledi, Soweto. After the children died after allegedly consuming snacks from a tuck shop in Naledi, community members shut down the implicated shop.
Ramaphosa called on communities to unite in fighting food poisoning deaths.
“Our people have every right to be upset and to be angry in the face of such tragedies. At a time like this, we need to unite as a country and work together to end these deaths. We must do what it takes to make sure such tragedies never happen again.”
He cited poor refuse collection as a possible contributor to the complex case of food poisoning.
“In responding to these tragedies, we need to understand the cause of this challenge in our communities. One of the reasons that people use pesticides is to deal with rat infestation. 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.”
All six children in Naledi died of Terbufos ingestion.
Ramaphosa announced the closure of all spaza shops implicated in the deaths of children. He further announced that spaza shops and other food handling facilities must be registered within the municipalities they operate within 21 days or face closure.
“Spaza shops implicated in the deaths of children must be closed with immediate effect. All spaza shops and other food handling facilities must be registered with municipalities in which they operate within 21 days from today [Friday]. Any shop that is not registered within 21 days and does not meet all health standards will be closed,” he said.