Govt must ensure spaza shops comply with regulations, says Tshwane Health MMC Mashabela
Mashabela was speaking in the Zithobeni township in Bronkhorstspruit on Thursday, where residents looted several spaza shops.
Community members in the Zithobeni township, Bronkhorstspruit, protesting foreign-owned spaza shops in the area following the hospitalisation of seven pupils at the Mshuluzane Primary School after experiencing stomach cramps. Picture: Alpha Ramushwana/Eyewitness News
TSHWANE – Tshwane Health MMC Tshegofatso Mashabela said there's a need for government to ensure spaza shops comply with regulations to avoid the sale of expired items.
Mashabela was speaking in the Zithobeni township in Bronkhorstspruit on Thursday, where residents looted several spaza shops.
The unrest comes after seven pupils from the Mshuluzane Mayisela Primary School were hospitalised after eating snacks allegedly bought from street vendors.
Mashabela said that maybe government must do more to ensure spaza shops abide by the law.
"We need to know where they stock their food because currently, we are just consuming things that we do not know. Just because the community is guns blazing, they have shut down, they have closed, and they’ve run away, but that is not the solution. The solution is that we need to know who their primary source of manufacturing of all the products is because they are our biggest feeder in communities."