Alex community demands action in light of the death of schoolgirl
Alex residents demand closure of spaza shops operated by illegal immigrants following the death of 10-year-old Lesedi Maaboi after eating snacks bought at a local spaza shop.
Residents of Alexandra are demanding the closure of all spaza shops operated by illegal immigrants following the tragic death of the 10-year-old Dr Knak Primary School girl Lesedi Maaboi.
It is alleged that Lesedi died after consuming snacks purchased from the spaza shop near her home in the late hours of the evening on November 2.
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Her mother, Maria Molaudzi, and her four-year-old brother, Refentse, who also ingested the same snacks, are currently recovering at Edenvale Hospital.
Lesedi’s father, Joshua Maaboi, said her daughter was playing outside and came inside the house to say the snacks had a strange smell.
“Lesedi gave the snacks to her mother to smell and she confirmed that they have a bad smell. Her mother then asked me to smell them but I ordered that they be thrown into the dustbin if they were not good.
“Her mother then insisted on going to the shop to tell the seller about the foul smell of the chips. I said no, throw those chips in the dustbin without causing any drama,” Maaboi said.
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Later, Lesedi started complaining about pains in her chest. When her condition deteriorated, the family rushed her to the nearby Masakhane Clinic.
“On the way, she developed breathing complications. When we got to the clinic, I dropped her at the emergency room and called someone back home to bring her brother as he had the snacks too.
“Upon her brother’s arrival, we were called and informed of her passing. At that time her mother had also been hospitalised because she was complaining of a painful stomach, before she even heard of our daughter’s passing,” Maaboi said.
Maaboi said the government must put more effort in doing shop inspections, finding out who runs the shops and checking the products they sell.
“There must be thorough shop inspections, maybe the police should make it a norm to visit shops and check the expiry dates of the products being sold,” Maaboi said.
Resident Mokgadi Machaba expressed the community’s frustration. “We never slept on Saturday night after this incident. We have enough reputable retail shops to buy from without worrying about being poisoned.”
Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Development Lebogang Maile, alongside City of Johannesburg speaker Nobuhle Mthembu, visited the family on November 4 to extend condolences after the tragic incident.
“This has got out of hand. It has got out of control. It can’t be that every week we bury a child. It appears this has escalated into a crisis which, hopefully, the president might have to declare as a state of emergency,” Maile said during a media briefing in Alexandra.
Maile is calling for an aggressive approach to bring this situation to an end. He said the owners of the spaza shop where the Maaboi family bought the chips have reportedly fled.
Maaboi said the family is still yet to decide on the burial date. “We are still waiting for his wife to recover and be discharged from hospital, so she too can bury her daughter.”
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