Johannesburg Taxi Rank Deaths: Postmortem Identifies Rat Poison as Cause of Children's Passing

• Postmortem results have revealed rat poison as the cause of death for a young boy who died after buying snacks from a local taxi rank
• A total of four young children died in Johannesburg earlier this month after eating snacks bought from local vendors
• Community activists embarked on an operation to shut down shops run by illegal foreigners believed to be selling counterfeit and expired foods

JOHANNESBURG - Rat poison has been identified as the alleged cause of death for two-year-old Azingce Mayeye, who lost his life after eating a packet of snacks bought from a taxi rank in Westonaria, west of Gauteng.

Sunday World reported that postmortem results indicated the presence of halephirimi in the deceased's body.

Sazile's aunt Siziphiwe Mayeye said the police took the packet of Crack-a-Snack Azingce had consumed to investigate it.

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"We are still wondering how halephirimi was found on his body, because our suspicions were on the packet of snacks. The children all shared the snacks and got sick. We are just waiting for the police to confirm what went wrong with my nephew."

Azingce was one of four children aged between two and six who fell sick after eating snacks bought from a taxi rank at South Deep Gold Fields Mine.

Azingce and his three-year-old friend were declared dead upon arrival at Bekkersdal West Community Healthcare, while his two other friends, aged four and six, recovered after hospitalisation.

2 More alleged food poisoning deaths

The death of the two boys is not an isolated case, as previously Briefly News reported on the untimely death of four-year-old Neo Khang and his six-year-old friend Leon Jele, after sharing a packet of pink-coloured biscuits purchased from a local spaza shop run by a foreign national.

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The incident took place in Naledi, Soweto and drove the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) together with the community to shut down foreign-owned spaza shops believed to be selling counterfeit and expired goods.

Home Affairs joins forces with Operation Dudula

@PSAFLIVE posted a video on X, previously known as Twitter, saying the country's Department of Home Affairs has joined in on the fight against illegal foreign-owned spaza shops, whose owners have since been arrested and awaiting deportation.

This is a developing story.

Source: Briefly News