South African Government Declares Food-Borne Deaths a National Disaster

• The South African Government has declared food-borne illnesses a national disaster
• This came after the country recently experienced a worrying surge of food-related incidents and deaths
• The government said it is working on declaring the disaster and is taking steps to address it urgently

Tebogo Mokwena, a dedicated Briefly News current affairs journalist, contributed coverage of international and local social issues like health, corruption, education, unemployment, labour, service delivery protests and heritage in South Africa during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

JOHANNESBURG—The South African government has declared food-borne illnesses a national disaster. This follows the country's more than 1,000 reported cases of food poisoning.

Food-borne illnesses national disaster

The government is led by various ministers, including Justice Minister Thembi Simelane, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, and Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen. The declaration follows a string of food-borne illnesses and deaths that have plagued the country since the beginning of the year.

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Simelane said the classification, under the National Disaster Act, stresses that the entire country should adhere to food safety laws and regulations. Steenhuisen revealed that the terfubos found in the food tested in the spaza shops around the country does not come from local manufacturers.

SA still blames the government

Netizens on Facebook pointed fingers at the government.

Annes Muller said:

"They are fully to blame for this. They let it happen by not checking up on spaza shops and conditions of the shop including the health nd safety obligations and proper regulations."

Amuszman Amuszman said:

"Working after so many incidents while your officials were ignoring it."

Rejoice Masimula said:

"We are all aware that the government does not really care about our well-being. We should stop expecting them to come to our rescue."

Katlego Maersk said:

"this is a security threat."

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Smonyo Mndebele said:

"We need action, not declaration."

Gauteng Education Department stops food sold at schools

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the Gauteng Department of Education announced that schools will stop selling food.

The announcement was met with resistance from members of the public and associations, and the department further called on vendors and traders to apply for Certificates of Acceptability to sell food.

Source: Briefly News