‘It is not enough to grieve’: MEC vows action after deaths of children in Naledi

Gauteng Member of the Executive Council (MEC), Matome Chiloane said the deaths of the five children who died from alleged food poisoning cannot be in vain.

The MEC for education, sport, arts, culture and recreation in the province made the remarks on Friday at the mass memorial service of the five Soweto children who tragically died on Sunday.

“We should give these children a purpose by ensuring that from now, going forward, we protect our communities, we take collective responsibility, and we work with law enforcement,” he said.

Their deaths cannot be in vain – MEC

The community in Naledi, Soweto, gathered in their hundreds at the Naledi Community Hall on Friday morning to pay tribute to Zinhle Masilela, Isago Mabote, Monica Sathege, Karabo Rampou, and Njabulo Msimango and to support their families.

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The children died after consuming snacks allegedly purchased from a spaza shot in Naledi. Following the incident, the spaza shops in the area shut down.

The families of the children emphasised that investigations into their deaths need to provide answers so that an incident like this doesn’t happen again.

Speaking at the service, the MEC said the deceased children, aged between six and nine, were filled with dreams, laughter, and potential.

“Their lives, bright and full of promise, were extinguished by a preventable tragedy that allegedly led to food purchased from a foreign-owned spaza shop in our community,” Chiloane said.

Not an isolated incident

The MEC said the community and education sector were standing in mourning and outrage over what happened to the children.

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He added that the reality of the situation is that this is not an isolated incident.

On Thursday, 74 West Rand Grade 12 pupils were hospitalised and then discharged after they presented with symptoms of food poisoning from a matric camp.

“This is a recurring nightmare that our communities have faced before. We cannot remain silent any longer. We cannot allow complacency or indifference to overshadow our responsibility to protect our children,” Chiloane said.

Food safety standards

He said the loss must ignite a determination to demand that the food and products sold in communities meet safety standards.

The MEC added that the community also needed to be honest and “call a spade a spade” as spaza shops operate from the yards of community members.

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“As a community, as a people, we know these houses. These are our properties. We have a collective responsibility to ensure that whoever we bring into our own property is vetted… and are providing the proper products,” Chiloane said.

He called for every spaza shop owner or informal trader to have a particular certification from the Department of Health at a municipal level.

“Everybody needs to play a collective role to ensure that we protect our communities,” he said.

‘We must act’ – MEC

“It is not enough to grieve; we must act.”

The MEC also emphasised that the family should work with law enforcement to protect communities and get to the bottom of what happened instead of taking matters into their own hands.

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