Health officials linking deadly pesticide to local spaza shops, reveals Motsoaledi
The Minster of Health announced on Monday that a pesticide known as terbufos was found to have been ingested by six children in Soweto's Naledi township, earlier in October.
Joseph Sebetwane holds up a picture of his daughter Monica (6), who died on Sunday in Naledi, Soweto, after allegedly consuming chips from a spaza shop. Photo: Katlego Jiyane/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says officials suspect that spaza shop owners in Soweto were using deadly organophosphates for pest control, leading to the death of six children in Naledi.
Motsoaledi announced on Monday that a pesticide known as terbufos was found to have been ingested by the children earlier in October.
According to officials, these substances are usually used in agriculture to certificated businesses and persons.
While the toxicology report of the six children from Naledi has confirmed the presence of terbufos in their systems, officials are yet to establish a link between the chemical and the local spaza shop where the children bought.
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Motsoaledi said that the swabs taken from the spaza shop are still being tested at the National Health Laboratory Service.
But he said they have a theory about how the substance may have landed in food ingested by the children.
"Our theory until we're proven otherwise is that they are using it as pesticides to kill rats specifically because I want to believe that there are rats in quite a number of spaza shops."
Motsoaledi said that what is even more concerning is that they have learned that the same organophosphates are being sold to pensioners at the South African Social Security Agency's grant payout points, as pest control products.