Multiple spaza shop raids in Naledi, Soweto, resulted in the arrest of three undocumented nationals, who have been running the grocery retail shops in the area, on Monday.
Surprise raid
This happened during the unannounced raid that caught many off-guard with food items, especially baby food that is suspected to be expired.
The six spaza shops in the area were examined by inspectors from the National Consumer Commission, Home Affairs, SAPS, and Johannesburg Environmental Health; all of them had infractions.
One of the food items, a bottle of baby purity, which was seized by National Consumer Commission authorities, led inspectors to suspect it was expired because of its watery state.
This is despite the expiration date being marked as the end of November 2024.
Food items not in original packaging
The National Consumer Commission officials alleged that some of the food items are not in their original packaging and have no barcodes, while others have their expiration dates rubbed off.
This discovery follows the deaths of six minors in the area after they consumed snacks from one of the shops last week.
One of the kids, who had been in the hospital all week (ICU), passed away on Saturday, while five of the kids were buried in a mass funeral over the weekend.
Sunday World understands that the sixth child, seven-year-old Katleho Olifant, will be laid to rest this coming weekend in Naledi, Soweto.
Olifant’s life was anchored with a lot of optimism before his death on Saturday, as a lot of people thought the child would survive and give more information to the police to help in their investigations.
Sibongile Sekgalo, his aunt, claims that the doctors were the only ones to inform the mother, who is unwilling to talk about it, of the conditions that caused his death.
Sekgalo said her family is not coping with the child’s departure.
