Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has revealed that the six children from Naledi, Soweto, died as a result of a chemical called organophosphate.
Organophosphate is a chemical that is found in pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides, among other agricultural products.
Motsoaledi said this during a media briefing in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, on Monday morning.
The children — Zinhle Maama, 7, Monica Sathekge, 6, Njabulo Msimango, 7, Karabo Rampou, 8, and Isago Mabote, 7 — died two weeks ago after they consumed snacks.
The sixth child, Katleho Olifant, 7, passed away a week later in the hospital. The children allegedly consumed snacks bought from a spaza shop earlier this month.
Kids died of terbufos ingestion
In his address, Motsoaledi said that the snack packet discovered in one of the children’s pockets did not contain the chemical.
The location of the chemical’s discovery is still being investigated, he said.
“The results show that the cause of death is unequivocally organophosphate,” Motsoaledi said.
“When we mentioned to you that we were chasing a chemical, we had believed that it was organophosphate. We took that from the symptoms.”
He further revealed that the type of chemical identified in the case is terbufos, noting that these chemicals require one to obtain a certificate to have them and that they are not designed to be in the domestic space.
“All six children died of terbufos ingestion. In the past few weeks, several chemicals were bandied around as possible causes of death. Some were even found in some retailers.
“Our theory is that spaza shops use it as pesticides to kill rats. I want to believe that there are rats in a number of spaza shops, so it came to spaza shops in that manner.
“Until we are proven otherwise and if the spaza shop owners are found to have been guilty of this, they will be charged.”
Spaza shops must be registered
Minister of Small Business Development Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said they are aware that there are businesses that are manufacturing food illegally.
“This is something that we have said as the government we are joining hands on, with relevant departments, to minimise these kinds of occurrences,” said Ndabeni-Abrahams.
“They have to give certainty and assurance that the food you are selling to our constituency is in good condition.”
She emphasised the importance of registering spaza shops to make sure that when they do wrong, they are held accountable.
“Citizens and communities must be the voice of their children by raising these matters, including highlighting the wrong that they see.”
