After repeated calls by many citizens, President Cyril Ramaphosa finally addressed the nation on Friday about the tragic incidents of children dying from food-borne diseases.
Allegations that the young victims consumed contaminated snacks bought from spaza shops in townships and informal settlements are under investigation.
It is indeed alarming that 22 children have lost their lives due to food poisoning and that since the beginning of September, there have been 890 reported incidents of food-borne illnesses across SA.
The scale of the tragedy warranted the intervention of the highest office in the land.
Though the president conveyed his condolences to bereaved families, it was probably cold comfort for them because they were still agonising over the loss of their beloved children.
Ramaphosa is correct that “people have every right to be upset and to be angry in the face of such tragedies”.
However, his solution — that spaza shops and other food-handling facilities must be registered within the municipalities in which they operate within 21 days or face closure — appears to be problematic.
There is nothing new about this requirement as it already exists — explicitly or implicitly — in bylaws.
Registration alone will not solve the problems of poor hygiene in shops or the selling of counterfeit goods.
What has been missing are regular inspections and law enforcement to make sure there is compliance.
Spaza shops do not produce the merchandise they sell, be it contaminated food or the pesticides that are suspected to have killed the young children.
We therefore hoped to hear how the government would decisively deal with the producers and suppliers of the spaza shops.
Without fully understanding the nature of the problem, there is no way we can ‘make sure such tragedies never happen again’ and the government’s solutions will remain a wishful thinking
Addressing the problem at the end of the distribution line is not sufficient.
The president was also correct in saying that residents use pesticides to deal with rat infestations. And that such infestations are due in part to poor waste management in several municipalities.
This newspaper has reported many times about dysfunctional local authorities that fail to collect rubbish regularly, which creates perfect conditions for pests to thrive.
So what is Ramaphosa going to do about officials who fail to run municipalities properly?
If the government fails to properly diagnose the problem and goes with the mood in communities, solutions will be contrived and ineffective and once the story is no longer making headlines, we will go back to business as usual.
Without fully understanding the nature of the problem, there is no way we can “make sure such tragedies never happen again” and the government’s solutions will remain wishful thinking.
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