4 Arrested After Health Officials Find Chemical Believed to Be Linked to Soweto Children’s Deaths
- Aaron Motsoaledi confirmed that four people, three women and one man, were recently arrested
- The people were arrested after health officials discovered a chemical at a Johannesburg mall
- The chemical is believed to be linked to the recent suspected food poisoning deaths in Naledi
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Health officials could soon be able to explain what killed six children in Naledi, Soweto.
The youngsters passed away after allegedly eating snacks from a foreign-owned spaza shop.
The incident sparked widespread fury among the community, with many blaming the foreigners, saying that they were selling poisoned or expired food.
Numerous cases of food poisoning have since been reported across the country, with South Africans calling for something to be done about the matter.
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Chemical linked to food poisoning cases confiscated
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has now confirmed that health officials have had a breakthrough in investigations.
Motsoaledi said they identified a chemical which was believed to be linked to the suspected cases of food poisoning.
He explained that health inspectors visited 84 spaza shops in Soweto and discovered a chemical that cannot be disclosed at this stage.
He added that scientists were assessing the chemical to determine its potential effects.
Four arrested during search
The health minister confirmed that shop owners confessed that they purchased an illegal substance during the search of the different spaza shops.
“During that search, they did confess that there is an illegal chemical which they bought at a mall in Johannesburg,” he said.
Health officials visited the mall, where they confiscated almost 1,5kg of the chemical.
Four people, one man and three women, have since been arrested. Two of them have been given bail, while the other two remain behind bars.
South Africans blame foreign-owned spaza shops
In a related article, Briefly News reported how South Africans were upset with foreign-owned spaza shops.
This comes after five children were killed in Soweto after they allegedly consumed food that they bought from a spaza shop.
A sixth child was admitted to ICU as the kids allegedly consumed a snack called Brown Dash from a foreign-owned store.
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Source: Briefly News
