Cabinet is concerned about the spate of food poisoning incidents in which children are eating expired and contaminated food from spaza shops and street vendors. The Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says that Cabinet has endorsed decisions taken at an International Migration Workshop that the Home Affairs Department hosted.
Briefing to the media today in Pretoria on the outcome of last week’s cabinet meeting, Nthshaveni stressed the importance of introducing by-laws to address challenges that municipalities and traditional authorities face in regulating businesses.
“There will be immediate joint inspections of businesses in particular spaza shops by the departments of labour, health, small business development, and home affairs inspectorate to enforce compliance with applicable by-laws. An audit of spaza shops in villages and townships and mechanisms to register them by both traditional leaders and municipalities will be undertaken. There are also efforts to support traditional authorities to keep a record of foreign nationals in their communities and the registration of spaza shops will require that there be compliance with the Business Act of South Africa which says a foreign national can only conduct business in South Africa if they make an investment of more than R5 million.”
In the Eastern Cape, 19 learners from Siseko High School in Debe Nek just outside Qonce were admitted to hospital after suffering from what appears to be food poisoning:
The Gauteng Education Department has also expressed concern over the number of cases of food poisoning:
