Lerato Mbhiza
The community of Naledi in Soweto are up in arms and are demanding the closure of all foreign-owned shops in the township following the death of two children after they had consumed biscuits allegedly bought at a nearby spaza shop.
It is alleged that four children ate the glucose biscuits which they had bought at the foreign-owned spaza shop on Sunday night and they immediately fell ill.
Two children died while it is reported that the other two are in critical conditions in hospital.
Police are monitoring the situation in Naledi, as angry community members took to the streets demanding that foreign-owned spaza shops be shut down immediately.
One of the residents, Musa Baloyi, said some of the community members wanted to loot the shops but stopped because they wanted the shop owner to take responsibility for the incident and be arrested.
“We want the shop owner to take accountability and be arrested. If not, they must leave the area because we have had enough of them. As locals, we are equally capable of operating such spaza shops, and provide quality products to our communities,” Baloyi said.
David Tsietsie said community members are not interested to loot or want anything to do with the food that the foreign owned shops are selling except to demand that they leave the country.
Other community members told Inside Politics that the community will have a meeting on Tuesday afternoon to plan the way forward.
Another community member Jones Maswaganyi said they want peace in the community so all the spaza shops need to be closed.
“We are not xenophobic but let us confront the truth, we do not have food inspectors that check the food in these shops to see if the products are of a good quality for consumption by people.”
Inside Politics
