Grade 1 Ekurhuleni Pupil Dies After Eating Biscuits From Spaza Shops, Residents Loot
- Residents of Tsakane in Ekurhuleni became violent and started looting spaza shops after a grade one pupil died shortly after eating snacks
- The little child allegedly ate biscuits sold by a foreign national-owned shop, vomited in class and died shortly
- Township and rural SMME organisation eKasi Entrepreneur's head of Spaza Shops, Mbongiseni Sangweni, spoke to Briefly News about the incident
- The residents started looting the shops in the area, and Public Order Policing were called to instil order
Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered police investigations and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.
Source: Getty Images
Residents of Tsakane in Ekurhuleni turned the township upside down after a child allegedly died from eating snacks. The child reportedly vomited and could not stop, and when the paramedics reached him, he was declared dead.
Pupil dies allegedly from spaza shop snack
According to eNCA, the situation became ugly on 6 February after community members, who claimed that law enforcement failed to regulate spaza shops, took matters into their own hands. Residents looted a spaza shop, forcefully opened it and tore it apart.
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The shop owners insisted they were not selling expired foods and said their operations were above board. They complained that looters had destroyed their stock, affecting their business. The owners also believed that the community could have inspected the stock without destroying the stock.
eKasi Entrepreneurs' head of spaza shops speaks to Briefly News
"There are a lot of things that are not right that the foreign-owned spaza shops are doing, including health issues like sleeping in the same room where the food is stored. This questions how they got their certificates of acceptability. However, the post-mortem will determine what killed the child," he said.
South Africans point fingers at the government
Netizens on Facebook complained that the government was not doing anything to inspect spaza shops that were accused of selling expired foods.
Didi Khoza said:
"Our government is failing us. I bought an expired Doom a few weeks after they inspected the shops."
Mohapi Mokoena remarked:
"We will never win this battle. This is too deep. This is a playground here. Amend the constitution, tighten it up, and let it protect the citizens first."
Taleni Jakes Mutota remarked:
"Something has to be done, and someone should be held accountable for this."
Hamilton Tapzin added:
"The results of voting for the ANC."
Ntjiepana Trevor Mahapa Maleka commented:
"Last year, the government promised food inspections at spaza shops. If the government took communities seriously, no one would have to die."
Johannesburg warehouse repackaging expired food closed down
In a similar article, Briefly News reported that police, accompanied by officials, closed down a warehouse repackaging expired foods.
The warehouse in Johannesburg was found stacked to the roof with repackaged and expired foods, and inspectors and the SAPS shut it down.
South Africans demanded that the government investigate who owned the shop and how it came to operate in the area.
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Source: Briefly News
