By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Friday evening on the government’s response to the recent deaths of school children from food-borne illnesses.
Ramaphosa’s address comes as the country battles a spate of deaths and hospital admissions linked to food poisoning.
Over 20 children have died and dozens hospitalised over the last few months after allegedly consuming snacks at tuckshops across the country.
The incidents have closed school tuckshops in several parts of South Africa, and led to the establishment of an inter-ministerial committee to look into the crisis.
“A massive campaign of door-to-door inspection of all spaza shops, tuck shops and other informal traders will be undertaken, starting with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. This will be undertaken by inter-disciplinary inspections teams consisting of the South African Military Health Services, environmental health practitioners, the South African Police Service, the National Consumer Council, labour inspectors and others,” Ramaphosa said.
He said since the beginning of September, there had been 890 reported incidents of food-borne illnesses across all provinces, with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal being most affected, while “dozens” of incidents were also reported in Limpopo, Free State and Mpumalanga.
“Over the last few weeks alone, food-borne illnesses have claimed the lives of at least 22 of our nation’s children,” he added.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases had established that the deaths of the six children in Naledi, Soweto in October were directly attributed to the organophosphate chemical Terbufos, the president said.
This harmful pesticide should not be sold for general household use, he said, but is nevertheless being “informally sold as a so-called ‘street pesticide’ for domestic use in townships and informal settlements to control rats”. Samples had been taken from 84 spaza shops in the Naledi area and three had evidence of Terbufos.
As part of the investigations into the Naledi deaths, inspectors confiscated a number of illegal pesticides from spaza shops, and also found instances where food was being stored alongside pesticides and detergents.
“Even as our investigations are ongoing, it is critical to understand that this is not a problem confined to spaza shops and other informal traders,” Ramaphosa said.
“The unregulated use of restricted pesticides in communities has become a growing problem, with devastating consequences. In many townships another chemical, Aldicarb, and an organophosphate known as Galephirimi are commonly sold by street vendors and hawkers to control rat infestations.”
Aldicarb has been banned for use in South Africa since 2016.
The Department of Agriculture is in the process of reviewing and updating all relevant legislation with respect to the regulation and authorisation of agricultural pesticides for use in South Africa.
Ramaphosa said there would be an investigation and prosecution of offenders identified in inspections of all food handlers and manufacturers. Non-compliant businesses and shops linked to any poisoning incidents or found to unlawfully stock hazardous chemicals would be shut down.
Other interventions would include protecting children from exposure to the harmful substances, which would involve the intervention of the national department of basic education and provincial education departments.
“By the start of the new school year, the department of basic education and school governing bodies, together with the department of health, will review and update the guidelines for schools on the management of suppliers of foodstuffs to public schools. This will include tuck shops operated at these schools,” Ramaphosa said.
“This will be complemented by a public education campaign aimed at communities, spaza shops, tuck shops, informal traders and other retailers on health, safety and hygiene regulations, the identification of hazardous products, regulations that apply to hazardous products and legal consequences.”
A Ministerial Health Advisory Committee is being established to develop medium- and long-term prevention measures. This Committee will consist of experts such as toxicologists, paediatricians, chemical pathologists, epidemiologists, forensic pathologists and others.
All deaths of patients 12 years and below will be made notifiable in the Notifiable Medical Condition Surveillance System.
An electronic medical certification of death system will be established to allow the National Department of Health to access cause of death information immediately after a death is certified.
The work of the Biosecurity Hub will be strengthened to better control the entry of products, organisms and harmful biological products at ports of entry.
A joint fund of R500 million will be established by the Departments of Trade, Industry and Competition and Small Business Development to support township and rural businesses, including community convenience shops. The funding will be for the refurbishment of businesses and non-financial support in terms of technical skills, regulatory compliance and capacity building.
Meanwhile the Gauteng department of education banned the sale of food around schools “to safeguard the health and well-being of [our] learners”, and called for schools and school governing bodies to monitor and regulate vendors, tuckshops, and other outlets that sell food to learners.
Kwazulu|Natal announced earlier today that it will carry out regular inspections of spaza shops and monitor borders for illicit food smuggling in response to the cases of food contamination in the province, which have mostly affected learners.