Gauteng MEC tasks councillors with carrying out audits of spaza shops within their wards
This follows the deaths of five children in Naledi, Soweto, who died from suspected poisoning after allegedly eating snacks from a spaza shop in the area.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane at Naledi Community Hall during a mass memorial service held in honour of five children in Naledi, Soweto, who died from suspected poisoning. Picture: @matomekopano/ X.
JOHANNESBURG - Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane has tasked councillors with carrying out audits of spaza shops within their wards.
This follows the deaths of five children in Naledi, Soweto, who died from suspected poisoning after allegedly eating snacks from a spaza shop in the area.
Chiloane was addressing hundreds of mourners at Naledi Community Hall during a mass memorial service held in honour of the children on Friday afternoon.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane says communities need to band together to ensure the safety and well-being of children.
He was addressing mourners at a mass memorial service in Naledi, Soweto, in honour of five children who died in a suspected poisoning incident on Sunday after allegedly eating snacks bought from a spaza shop.
"Every spaza shop or informal trade needs a particular certificate from the Department of Health at a municipal level.
He tasked councillors with going into their wards and auditing these shops.
"Councillors, you have a responsibility that from today onward, you go to every single shop in your community to ascertain that that particular shop has a licence to trade - that’s when we can start holding people accountable."
And it's accountability that the families of the children want, as questions around what may have caused their deaths remain unanswered.