Cape Town - Khayelitsha residents have demanded the closure of spaza shops in the area, after children discovered dumped expired food along a busy road in Town Two on Tuesday.
The children were seen picking up packets of sweets on their way to school in the morning, which turned out to be dumped goods in a solid waste shipping container.
When cleaners arrived, they found heaps of bags with maize meal packets, sweets, noodles and biscuits.
Some of the items expired in 2021 and 2022.
Ward councillors Mthwalo Mkhutswana and Thando Pimpi, called the police and asked them to accompany them to shut down the spaza shops in the area.
Mkhutswana said: “We suspect that after the president spoke Friday, Somalis decided to dump their expired food. They dumped things that children could just pick up and eat. We called the police because we wanted them to see what happened and for them to make a decision.”
When the police arrived, Pimpi asked them to close the spaza shops, but the police said they would go back to the area with more officers and City officials.
The incident comes on the back of a national crackdown as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, to remove hazardous pesticides from circulation and a directive mandating that all spaza shops and food-handling facilities register with their local municipalities within 21 days.
Khayelitsha resident, Nolwandle Solani, said they recently buried a child who picked up chips from an illegal dump site.
“Spaza owners dumped expired food in the BM Section, and he took the chips. He got ill, when his mom got home, she found the child foaming around his mouth and that was the end of his life.
“We want authorities to stop dragging their feet and make sure that they protect our children,” Solani said.
Community activist, Mbulelo Dwane, said honest conversation was needed about spaza shop owners in communities.
“If they behave like this, selling us expired food items, endangering ourselves and children, we have to ask ourselves difficult questions such as, should these people be with us in our communities? Are they helping or killing our communities?” he said.
A week ago, the owners of Gubta Meats on 19 Main Road, Mfuleni – Mohammed Abdi Kadiye, 34, and Mohammed Ali Ahmed, 36, both Somali nationals, were charged with contravention of the Food Stuff and Cosmetics Act 54 of 1972, for the illegal production and operation of a butchery producing meat products without the legal certificate to do so.
Their co-accused, Malawian nationals Kondwani Mwezhande, 29, Smart Chipod, 25, and Abduaallah Abdinour, a Somalian national, were charged with the breach of the Immigration Act, for being in the country illegally.
Mayco member for community services and health, Patricia van der Ross, said the public can contact their local Environmental Health Office for assistance via their local clinic or the City’s Technical Operations Centre on 0860 103 089.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za