Soweto Residents Want Ramaphosa To Step Down for Decision To Allow Foreigners To Register Spazas

• A group of Soweto residents blocked other community members from registering spaza shops on behalf of foreign nationals
• Tensions flared outside a Customer Service Centre in Jabulani on 19 November 2024 after a declaration for spazas to be registered
• Some residents called for President Cyril Ramaphosa's head after his pronouncement for all spazas, including foreign-owned

JOHANNESBURG — Despite President Cyril Ramaphosa's blanket pronouncement for unregistered South African or foreign-owned spaza shops to do so within 21 days, many local residents in Gauteng's Soweto are infuriated.

An opposing group prevented other community members from registering spaza shops owned by foreign nationals renting space from their yards at a Customer Service Centre in Jabulani on Tuesday, 19 November 2024.

Soweto community want Ramaphosa gone

A few days earlier, on 15 November, Ramaphosa addressed the nation on the food poisoning crisis that has been battering SA since the beginning of the year.

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He highlighted 890 reported food poisoning incidents nationally between September and November and ordered a clampdown on spaza shops.

According to the data, most of these cases occurred in townships, informal settlements and hostel communities.

Then, Gauteng — with over 300 incidents and two dozen deaths since February — and KwaZulu-Natal had the most cases, followed by Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Free State, accounting for 22 children deaths.

Ramaphosa, who emphasised that investigations had not pointed to any deliberate action taken to cause the poisonings, noted the Naledi incident in which six children, aged between seven and nine, died after reportedly consuming tainted snacks from a local spaza shop in early October.

Later that month, the government declared the ongoing crisis a national security threat after determining that a chemical agent, a highly hazardous organophosphate used as a pesticide known as Terbufos, was linked to the six Soweto children's deaths.

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Widespread displeasure with Ramaphosa

He said the products were as likely to be sold in shops owned by locals as with foreign-owned businesses and declared measures to deal with the scourge.

These included closing down spaza shops implicated in the deaths of children and registering spazas and other food-handling businesses within 21 days from the date of the address.

Since then, displeased Soweto residents blasted Ramaphosa, arguing he should step down for his decision. A video posted on the @MDNnewss captured a woman's anger as she asserted her strong position.

"Is Ramaphosa protecting us or these people after giving them 21 days to register? Who's side is he on? I think we must take action so he steps down.

"Right now, there's a viral video of a Pakistani urinating and spitting on the food we buy, and I don't think he didn't see it," she claimed.

"So, what is he saying as our president? We must unite as South Africans, especially in Soweto, to show him enough is enough. He is selling us [out], and it is enough!"

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Another video, shared by @KayaNews, showed tensions flaring among the residents. A man is seen shoving another, accusing him of carrying documents that weren't his as he seemingly sought to register for a foreign national.

Presidency responds to deaths of 5 children

In related news, Briefly News reported that the deaths of the then-five children in Naledi in early October sparked outrage from the community.

The minors, aged seven to nine, allegedly ate food bought from a business in the area before falling ill and later dying in hospital.

Source: Briefly News