No suggestion of deliberate poisoning of children, says president

President Cyril Ramaphosa has said investigations prompted by the deaths of children due to food-borne illnesses ‘do not suggest any deliberate campaign to poison children in our country’.

He was addressing the nation on Friday following numerous reported cases of food-borne illnesses and deaths.

In highlighting the need to stop the spread of misinformation, Ramaphosa said, “There is also no evidence that the problem is confined to spaza shops owned by foreign nationals. These products [pesticides] are just as likely to be sold in shops owned by South Africans.”

The president said the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) conducted scientific tests and established that the deaths of the six children in Naledi, Soweto are attributed to a highly hazardous chemical used as a pesticide.

“Terbufos can have serious health effects, even at low levels of exposure. Terbufos is an organophosphate chemical registered in South Africa for agricultural use. It is not allowed to be sold for general household use.

“However, Terbufos is being informally sold as a so-called ‘street pesticide’ for domestic use in townships and informal settlements to control rats.

“Samples were taken from 84 spaza shops in the Naledi area. Of these, three had evidence of Terbufos.

“After stringent testing, a chip packet found on one of the children who had died had traces of Terbufos on both the inside and the outside of the packet.”

He said inspectors confiscated a number of illegal pesticides from spaza shops as food was being stored alongside pesticides and detergents.

“It was also found that these spaza shops lacked proper safe food storage, hand and dishwashing facilities, increasing the likelihood of food contamination,” said Ramaphosa.

The president said, while investigations are ongoing this problem is not confined to spaza shops and other informal traders.

“The unregulated use of restricted pesticides in communities is 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.”

He said, last year, three children in Ekurhuleni and three in Soweto died after exposure to Aldicarb.

“In responding to these tragedies, we need to understand the cause of this challenge in our communities. One of the reasons people use pesticides is to deal with rat infestation.

“The problem of rat infestation is due in part to poor waste management in several municipalities. Rubbish is not collected regularly, streets are not being cleaned, creating conditions for rats and other pests to thrive.

“Often, the poorest communities are the worst affected, and often the cheapest remedies that are used are these highly hazardous substances like Terbufos and Aldicarb.”

Additionally, he said environmental health is the responsibility of local government.

“Many municipalities do not have the capacity and resources to conduct inspections of these businesses and enforce regulations.

“Our response must therefore address all the factors that contribute to the problem,” said Ramaphosa.

Among other measures announced, Ramaphosa issued a directive that municipalities should, within 21 days, register all spaza shops in their jurisdiction.

Recently, two schools in the Mtubatuba area reported cases of suspected food poisoning which prompted pupils to be rushed to local clinics and hospitals.

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