Residents in the townships rely on spaza shop owners because they give them food on credit. While at the same time the spotlight is on kids dying after consuming snacks bought from the same spaza shops.
It has become difficult for residents to chase these operators away as they are the lifeline for food on credit. Something they cannot access at local township retailers such as Shoprite and Boxer.
Government has a task of navigating this complex issue when it clamps down on the ongoing crisis of children’s deaths.
It is clear that the shop operators are the problem. But residents need them as they give them food on credit. It has become a deadly bread and butter issue to tackle.
Shutting them down will leave residents hungry as they won’t be able to access food on credit. Keeping them on means more children dying from snacks bought at these spaza shops.
Bekkersdal children’s deaths in 2023
A year has passed since the deaths of two kids in Bekkersdal, Westonaria, who are said to have eaten a pack of chips they claimed to have purchased from a nearby taxi rank. Despite this, the families claim that no one has been charged or arrested.
The children, who were between the ages of two and seven, passed away in October 2023.
The victims were Azingce Mayeye, 2, and another seven year old (name not supplied).
Nokuphila Mayeye, Azingce’s mother, said in an interview with Sunday World that the recent events in Naledi have reopened a wound she had not touched in a year.
According to Mayeye, Azingce was declared dead after he was rushed to hospital. A post-mortem detected rat poison halephirimi in his body.
Uncertain on what to make of the post-mortem results, Mayeye claimed she never received any communication from police on the case after her child’s burial.
No update on police investigations, a year later
“Yoh! You are checking up on us after a year? What must we do now? Revisiting the most difficult part of my life will only break me,” said Mayeye. She added that she would like to move on.
Her family has not healed from the ordeal, she said.
“I do not want to talk about this, but we did not receive any update on the case. And as far as I know, no one was arrested.
“I had hopes that I would have healed by now, but I have not. No one said anything to us since the burial, that is how sad our situation is,” she added.
William Mogagabe also experienced a similar loss of his nephew in Naledi last year. He expressed similar sentiments. It has become a yearly ritual for them to lose children in the area. Neo Khang, Katlego Mbatha, both aged 6, lost their lives in the same manner last year.
“We are not satisfied with how the ordeal was handled, because nothing happened,” said Mogagabe.
He said police police have not provided an update on any developments in the case.
When the bodies of the children were returned, the families were only told that they had consumed a poison, he said.
Shop owner just relocated to another local area
“We still want to know what really happened because we need closure. For us to get the closure, we need to get a report from police. Or from the MMC for health and social development in Gauteng,” he added.
Mogagabe revealed that the alleged shop owner moved to a different section after the community threatened to retaliate.
Sunday World reached out to the office of the MMC for health and social development Ennie Makhafola. His office had said the test results on the children who died last year indicated that they did not die of the poison in the snacks bought from the spaza shops.
On the recent deaths, Makhafola said the snacks samples have been submitted to the laboratory for testing.
“We are still waiting for the lab results. The course of action will be informed by the outcome of the test,” said Makhafola.
Meanwhile, Naledi councillor Mmota Lazarus said locals want all the undocumented spaza shop owners gone.
Locals rely on spaza shop owners for credit
“This cannot keep happening in this area. It cannot be that we are burying children every year in October as a result of these shops. They must go,” he said.
Lazarus said some residents claim the spaza shop owners give them food on credit. This is the reason why the spaza shops were still able to operate in the neighbourhood.
“But at what cost? If there are people who are against them leaving our area, it means they will leave with them. We cannot tolerate this any longer,” he added.
