Durban — Amid the rising spate of poison-contaminated food incidents in the country, business groupings North Region Business Association (Nobra) and the INK Investment, representing local spaza shop owners in Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu embarked on a peaceful march on Thursday.
Their march to the KwaMashu Sports Centre was part of the call for the closure of spaza shops owned by illegal immigrants, who allegedly sold goods that were reported to be contaminated.
Muzi Shange, one of the event's organisers representing Nobra, expressed the urgency of their cause.
Shange said, “We decided to embark on this march because we want to reclaim the township economy, including the spaza shops. If the government does not respond positively to our pleas, we will intensify our marches. This is just the start.”
The call for local ownership of spaza shops was echoed by Nathi Mbatha, chairperson of the Abantu Business Umbrella, who said, “We want these spaza shops to be owned by local residents. Enough is enough.”
The marchers sang revolutionary songs on their way to the KwaMashu Sports Centre where they handed over a memorandum to a representative from eThekwini Municipality.
Political leaders from various parties including Zwakele Mncwango, ActionSA’s provincial chairperson and Muzi Hlengwa, leader of the African People First (APF) were also present.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa appealed to law-enforcement agencies to assist in dealing with those who want to take the law into their own hands.
“People of South Africa with all good intentions must not take the law into their hands,” said Hlabisa.
Hlabisa warned that local residents who assisted illegal foreign nationals to operate spaza shops will face the full wrath of the government.
“The owner of the spaza shop is the one who should operate the spaza shop. If a person opts to allow another person to operate his or her spaza shop, they will have to go back to the municipality to get approval. Any fear that the system will be overridden by South Africans assisting foreign nationals, it is not going to work,” said Hlabisa.
On Wednesday, 12 Ethiopian and two Mozambican nationals were arrested in the Ntuzuma township during a raid led by the Durban Metro Police and community organisations, who teamed up to curb the scourge of the selling of contaminated goods in spaza shops.
During the raid, bags of expired chips, cakes and cosmetics were found and confiscated by police.
In another incident on the same day, a spaza shop owned by an illegal immigrant was looted in Inanda allegedly by local residents. It is alleged that residents had gone on a rampage.
The call of action followed alarming reports of food poisoning incidents linked to spaza shops, where over 22 children tragically died in Gauteng.
In KwaZulu-Natal, three children aged two, six and 11 died in uMzumbe allegedly from food poisoning. There have also been multiple cases of ill children, including an incident in October involving pupils at Ngaqa Primary School who fell ill after consuming snacks from a vendor.
Meanwhile, the South African Police Services were hunting down the owners of the expired goods and counterfeit clothing material uncovered during a raid at two warehouses in the Bluff area on Wednesday.
As the National Disaster Management Centre has categorised this crisis as a national disaster, the pressure is mounting on the government to implement effective solutions.
During his televised address to the nation last Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa instructed spaza shop owners to register their shops on the government’s database within 21 days or face closure.
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