Gauteng MEC for Education and Sports, Arts, Culture, and Recreation, Matome Chiloane, says parents need to teach their children that spaza shops are a no-go area.
Chiloane said this while visiting Thabisile Primary School on Monday.
The visit is in response to the untimely death of an eight-year-old grade two pupil who attended the school.
It has been alleged that the child perished after consuming snacks purchased from a nearby spaza shop in Diepkloof, Soweto.
“We have to be aggressive and decisive when we take these decisions. I am of the view that we must teach them to never buy from spaza shops. A spaza shop is a no go area. We cannot teach them to look at expiry dates because we have seen in the videos that they change them,” said Chiloane.
He added that the deaths of the children in Gauteng were an attack and that led them to close tuck shops in schools to ensure the safety of the children.
Long-term effects of poison unknown
“We have dealt with over 400 cases of food poisoning this year. That is a lot for us not to act. I do not want to say fortunately the majority survived, because we do not know the long-term effect of the poison that they consumed.”
Chiloane said losing a child in this way disrupts the school schedule because both teachers and students are unable to adjust.
“The department has dispatched the psychosocial unit to the school to speak to the learners and the educators.”
The family, said to be struggling to come to terms with their daughter’s passing, refused to make comments to the media.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, five-year-old Siyabonga Mnisi from Diepkloof Zone 3 was laid to rest. He lost his life after he allegedly consumed snacks from a spaza shop. According to his family, after eating the snacks, Mnisi vomited and had diarrhea. He was declared dead by health practitioners at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
