Joburg blames the ‘lack of resources’ in five children’s deaths

The City of Johannesburg is blaming lack of resources for the slow pace of monitoring and enforcing compliance in spaza shops as five families mourn the deaths of their children in Soweto.

They died at the weekend after eating snacks apparently purchased from a spaza shop in Naledi.

The Joburg public safety MMC Mgcini Tshwaku admitted that despite commitments to clamp down on noncompliant spaza shops last year, progress had been slow.

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‘Insufficient resources’

“Some foreign-owned stores have shown reluctance to comply with regulations. We also have insufficient resources and capacity to effectively monitor and enforce compliance,” Tshwaku said.

The family of six-year-old Katlego Oliphant, a Grade 1 pupil who is in the ICU at Lesedi Hospital, are in anguish as they cling to hope for his recovery.

His mother, Lydia Oliphant, said: “His condition is touch and go. The doctors have told me it doesn’t look good. He’s fighting for his life. Today, he was a bit better, but he was shaking.

“The doctors said the medication is working to remove the poison from his system,” an emotional Oliphant said.

Six-year-old child dies

In the next street, Tryphiny Phiri recounted the horrifying death of six-year-old Njabulo Msimango, also in Grade 1.

Njabulo left the house to play in a nearby park and was believed to have shared a packet of chips with friends.

“They came home, and Njabulo said he wasn’t feeling well. He soon collapsed.

“In a panic, I rushed to get a car and we found another child who had collapsed. We asked them what they had eaten, but they couldn’t answer. Their condition got worse and we tried pouring water on them to wake them up, but Njabulo was already weak.”

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Spazas’ to comply with safety regulations

This tragedy occurred on the same street where two children died in similar circumstances a year ago.

In 2023, Tshwaku announced plans to deploy “spaza shop patrollers” across the province. At the time, he said the patrollers would work alongside Joburg Metro Police Department officers, monitoring about 1 000 spaza shops in Soweto to ensure compliance with health and safety regulations.

Tshwaku emphasised that the city has patrollers but it was vetting them and restructuring.

However, head of business development at the South African Spaza and Tuckshop Association Sibusiso Ngcobo cited the lack of inspections as a major contributor to the deaths.

“This is a national security issue. There is a lack of inspections and many traders get their permits in questionable ways,” Ngcobo said.

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