Spaza shops food poisoning deaths might have been deliberate: Deputy COGTA Minister
As parliamentarians on Tuesday probed the legitimacy of business permits issued to foreign nationals to operate these shops, Masemola said it calls into question the country’s immigration policies.
Five children died after consuming chips bought from a spaza shop in Naledi, Soweto. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News
CAPE TOWN - The Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance, Namane Masemola, has suggested that children who died of contaminated food sold by spaza shops in 2024 may have been deliberately harmed.
On Tuesday, parliamentarians probed the legitimacy of business permits issued to foreign nationals to operate these shops. Masemola said it calls into question the country’s immigration policies.
Members of Parliament (MPs) have appeared sceptical that the more than 2,900 foreign nationals who have secured permits from municipalities have actually met the criteria to operate a business in South Africa.
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has promised to interrogate the successful applications for business permits awarded to foreign nationals.
The parliamentary oversight committee has heard that South African business owners are helping foreign nationals to operate businesses by sharing their business permits or employing them to run their shops.
Masemola said a political conversation needs to be had about the country’s immigration laws.
“We’ve not had any incidents [since 2024], which means some of these matters were done deliberately. These brothers and sisters of foreign origin do things deliberately in some cases, and to the extent that we may have had all these casualties. But ever since the momentum was triggered, there’s nothing that relates to the loss of life anymore.”
COGTA Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa said 520 health inspectors are employed to conduct physical inspections.
“This sector has not been regulated for many years. It cannot be done overnight.”
While Hlabisa has given the assurance that shops that sold contaminated food have all been closed, MPs said there needs to be greater accountability for the children’s deaths.