Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile visited the family of the five-year old Siyabonga Mnisi who died on Wednesday after eating a snack bought at a spaza shop in Diepkloof, Soweto. Picture: X/Lebogang Maile
Following another death of a five-year old boy, the Gauteng government promised to get to the bottom of the food contamination crisis.
Siyabonga Mnisi died on Wednesday in Diepkloof, Soweto, from suspected food poisoning.
The infant reportedly had diarrhoea and vomiting before being brought to a nearby clinic, where he was declared dead.
An inquest investigating the incident has been started by the Gauteng police.
On Thursday morning, the national government said the disaster management centre had classified food-borne illnesses as a National Disaster under the National Disaster Act.
Provincial Finance MEC Lebogang Maile, who visited the area on Thursday, said this situation can no longer be tolerated because it endangered the lives of children and the public.
"This is the level of disrespect to the law and I think it is high time that we act decisively... We have started," he said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a directive last Friday requiring all spaza shops to complete their registration within 21 days, in response to a nationwide food safety crisis.
This is after 22 children were reported dead across the country in recent months.
A total of 890 food-borne disease cases have been reported across all provinces since the start of September 2024.
According to Maile, the police and the Home Affairs Department verified and confirmed that the documents of the spaza shop owners where the child bought the snacks were legit and legal.
But he said being in the country legally did not allow them to operate their businesses illegally.
"There's no justification of what they have done," he added.
Maile conveyed his condolences to the Mnisi family and the community.
He also mentioned that they would open a case on the matter.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
IOL Politics
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