Province looks at districts to curb food poisoning

KwaZulu-Natal points of entry will have beefed up security that will include the police and municipal security staff.

This is among the efforts to clampdown on counterfeit goods making its way to retailers and evading taxes as well as cutting the source and movement of poisonous food items.

The move was announced by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli at the KZN Legislature on Friday. He was briefing the media on government’s response to recent incidents of food safety challenges, which have impacted vulnerable communities, particularly children and learners.

Ntuli said that the plan to address the challenges will be fine-tuned by KZN Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi with his counterparts from district municipalities over the coming days.

It follows the discovery of R30 million worth of counterfeit goods that were destined for retailers during a raid recently.

“The items that were found during some of the raids include the top brand clothing items and makes you realise while some local businesses are battling, because these goods make it through the country without paying any taxes,” said Ntuli.

He said the raids had exposed porous entry points and needed a prompt and comprehensive plan on the part of government.

He also indicated that government will use a carrot and stick approach when rolling out the clampdown on spaza shops across the province punishing and even closing some of them.

This will be rolled out through district municipalities, ensuring that no corner of the province is left unattended as government seeks to find all sources and distribution points of any harmful substances in the province.

Ntuli acknowledged that the informal market had been ignored without providing support to local entrepreneurs, noting that this had paved the way for foreigners who have come to dominate the sector worth billions of rands.

He said so far 249 inspections had been carried out, especially in eThekwini and 99 closures on non-compliant spaza shops.

Ntuli conceded that many municipalities were battling to enforce their own by-laws.

“They will certainly get the assistance from provincial government to enable them to carry out this task,” he said.

Ntuli said the food poisoning issue was a complex problem, but government was willing and had the capacity to deal with the challenge.

Some of the inventions that will be rolled out includes: joint raids where district municipalities will work with the police, continuous monitoring of compliance on the regulations for operators, especially hygiene standards, providing funds to ensure that local spaza shop owners get the assistance to rebuild their enterprises and continue to play their role in the province’s economy.

“Spaza shops and informal businesses play an important role in the rural and township economy and they provide work to thousands of people and this fund will assist those in need and there will be strict conditions to ensure that there is no abuse of the fund,” Ntuli said.

He said the fund was agreed on at a provincial cabinet meeting this week, with each department expected to contribute in setting it up.

While there is no clarity on the fund total, it is expected to run into millions of rand, and possibly falling under the guardianship of Department of Economic Development and Tourism or the Finance Department.

Ntuli said the raids and inspections would become a regular feature, and engagements with key role players would continue in order to ensure that young lives are not at risk again.

“We have had engagements with traditional leadership because the incidents of food poisoning happening in areas under Amakhosi. In addition to this we have taken a decision that all MECs will be part of the inspections in spaza shops,” he said.