The laboratory tests that appeared to rule out poisonous chemicals in food sold at the Naledi tuckshop where six children died may never have answered the central question because investigators arrived after the evidence had largely disappeared.
That is the conclusion emerging from a Public Protector notice issued on Friday, which says the negative chemical tests should not be treated as clearing the operators of the shop because inspectors collected samples only after the premises had been looted and left “almost empty”.
The finding strikes at one of the most contested aspects of the Soweto tragedy. Chemical testing is a scientific process in which investigators collect suspected food products and analyse them for toxic substances. The reliability of those results depends on whether the samples accurately represent the food that people actually consumed.
‘Chain was already compromised’
According to Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, that chain was already compromised.
“I have observed that five of the six deceased children in Soweto at Naledi passed away on 06 October 2024, immediately after presenting with signs of food poisoning,” the notice states. “However, it is only on 07 October 2024… that Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP) from the City of Johannesburg visited the suspected Dana Tuckshop to take samples.”
By then, the Public Protector says, the scene had fundamentally changed.
“Of grave concern to me is that when EHP arrived, Dana Tuckshop had already been closed from operating following the looting by community members, which left the food area almost empty.”
Findings cannot be treated as decisive
Laboratory results received on October 17 2024 found no carbamates, organophosphates or pyrethroids in the food samples. But Gcaleka says those findings cannot be treated as decisive because investigators may no longer have been testing the food the children had eaten.
“It is difficult to place too much reliance on the laboratory results and to convincingly conclude that the absence of positive chemical testing should absolve the operators of the shop concerned,” the notice says.
The observation forms part of a much wider systemic investigation into whether municipalities and national departments failed to enforce food safety laws in the informal food sector following a complaint lodged by African Transformation Movement leader and MP Vuyo Zungula in October 2024.
The report argues that the Naledi case was not an isolated incident but unfolded within a food safety system already weakened by chronic shortages of environmental health inspectors, weak licensing systems and poor coordination between government departments.
The Public Protector intends finding that Gauteng municipalities failed to implement adequate control mechanisms to enforce food safety standards and that concurrent oversight by provincial and national departments was also inadequate.
Allegations of business fronting
The investigation also identifies allegations of business fronting associated with the Naledi tuckshop.
According to the notice, “Although a local citizen is a registered owner of Dana Tuckshop… the shop itself was operated by a foreign national without a licence, as confirmed by CoJ and by the community of Naledi.”
The Public Protector further says the Department of Small Business Development has already identified “specific instances of business fronting, beneficiary mismatch, fraud, or misrepresentations” in the spaza shop sector.
Although the notice contains intended findings rather than final conclusions, Gcaleka emphasises that affected parties have the opportunity to make representations before the report is finalised.
- Laboratory tests found no poisonous chemicals in food from Naledi tuckshop where six children died, but samples were collected after the shop was looted and largely emptied, compromising the results.
- Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka stated that the delayed sampling means the tests cannot conclusively clear the tuckshop operators of responsibility.
- The investigation revealed systemic food safety failures, including understaffed environmental health services, weak licensing, and poor government coordination.
- The Naledi tuckshop was found to be operated by an unlicensed foreign national, despite ownership being registered to a local citizen, indicating possible business fronting and fraud.
- The Public Protector plans to find Gauteng municipalities and higher government levels failed to enforce proper food safety controls, with affected parties allowed to respond before final conclusions.
