Food poisoning: Lack of refuse removal, rats are root cause of problem

It is commonly accepted that in certain African countries, a foreign visitor must travel with an “extra page in their passport”.

The story goes that corruption in those countries is so entrenched in their day-to-day lives that a visitor who has not even broken any laws must keep some bank notes in their passport so that when those in authority demand to see their passport, they will easily take out the “extra page” and leave the traveller to go on their merry way.

South Africans would listen to such travel stories and make horrified faces at hearing them on some “at least not in our country” level.

Any South African who still thinks that way is delusional. Corruption is part of this country’s daily life right now.

When President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation in what the country has come to call a “family meeting” on Friday, his 25-minute long address sounded so normal and ordinary that most people would have been listening with one ear tuned to amapiano hits because after all, it was a Friday.

But a few minutes from the end he announced: “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 whole country could hear tenderpreneurs rubbing their hands with glee at this presidentially approved windfall.

After all, it has been a while since that Covid bonanza.

Ramaphosa was announcing the country’s response to what is now being reported as a pandemic of sorts: children dying from organophosphate poisoning across the country after consuming snacks bought from spaza shops.

ALSO READ: Over 3,000 Gauteng spaza shops per year found to be non-compliant since 2020

The basic cause of the deaths has been identified as careless use of mostly aldicarb and terbufos to control rats in food storage areas of these spaza shops.

The rats infestation is caused by lack of proper and timeous collection of refuse, mostly in the townships.

And so, shop owners use these deadly organophosphates to solve a service delivery problem, failure to collect refuse. This whole scenario would be funny if it did not involve the tragic deaths of children.

There is real death and grieving that is a result of trying to control a rat infestation that is neither caused by the foreign nationals or poor residents.

But the missing-page-in-the-passport phenomenon dictates that the real winners in this scenario are tenderpreneurs.

The spoils have been shared even before the tenders are out.

There are two more layers of complication in solving this rat infestation that is leading to poisoned children dying problem: registration of spaza shops, including their regular inspections, and the enforcement of the regulatory requirement that all spaza shops in South Africa be owned by locals.

None of the layers of complication is aimed at actually eliminating the rat problem.

ALSO READ: Emfuleni: DA warns of complete services collapse if no urgent intervention

It is half-a-billion windfall for jam. Should the country be surprised at this?

Those genuinely surprised that corruption is a real and present danger need to present themselves to a health facility for a psychological wellness check.

Foreign nationals owning spaza shops must anticipate dealing with health inspectors who, on paper, will be checking documents of proper business registration and personal documentation but, in reality, will most likely turn out to be a bribe collection.

The simplest solution is refuse collection and government pest control.

Also, foreign national documentation must be done at the port of entry. That’s what other countries do.

What the government is doing is attempting to stop children dying by driving out foreign nationals, instead of controlling rat infestation.