Four people have been arrested in connection with the Naledi spaza shop food poisoning incident.
This was confirmed by health minister Aaron Motsoaledi during a media briefing on Friday after health officials conducted inspections at the spaza shops. The owners told the officials about a chemical they buy at a local shopping mall.
“During the search, they [owners] confessed that there is an illegal chemical they buy from a mall in Johannesburg. Twenty-seven officials went to the mall and confiscated 1,456g of the chemical.
“Four people were arrested, one man and three women, for selling the illegal chemical.”
Two of the suspects are out on R2,000 bail.
The confiscated chemical was taken to the Johannesburg Central prison.
Mostoaledi did not name the chemical, saying it would be irresponsible to name it at this stage.
About 140 health inspectors were sent to Naledi, where 84 spaza shops were inspected.
“They were trained by NICD [The National Institute for Communicable Diseases] to find this chemical, which is the one we think is causing problems. They finished the work and conducted mop-ups.”
Of the 84 spaza shops in Naledi, 42 are owned by foreign nationals and 43 by South Africans.
Motsoaledi clarified that the search of the shops was not targeting foreign nationals, but rather an effort by the government to find the cause of the poisonings.
“We were not searching for foreign-owned shops, but rather all spaza shops.”
Six children died after they consumed snacks they allegedly bought from a local tuck shop in Naledi, Soweto. In another incident three children aged between one and four died of suspected food poisoning in Mdantsane NU2, Eastern Cape.
In the latest incident of suspected food poisoning, 24 pupils in Mpumalanga were rushed to hospital on Thursday, the Mpumalanga education department confirmed.
The pupils from Enzani Primary School at Matsulu were taken to Rob Ferreira Hospital in Mbombela after they allegedly ate snacks bought from a local spaza shop.
The pupils allegedly complained about abdominal pains and some started vomiting.
The department’s spokesperson Gerald Sambo said the school’s principal notified their parents and took the pupils to Rob Ferreira Hospital where they received medical attention.
While it is alleged the affected pupils bought snacks from a local spaza shop, the education department said the cause of their ill-health remained unclear.
“According to information, all the learners are in a stable condition,” Sambo said.
TimesLIVE
Rethabile Radebe
www.timeslive.co.za
