The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Velenkosini Hlabisa, has urged communities to be vigilant and proactive in protecting the health and well-being of children.
The Minister was speaking at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, where he was visiting an eight-year-old boy. It was reported that the boy was hospitalised after he fell ill after consuming contaminated snacks purchased from a spaza shop in Mapetla, Soweto.
According to reports, the eight-year-old boy was taken to a nearby clinic after complaining of persistent pain.
After his condition deteriorated, he was transferred to the hospital over the weekend.
“Government plays a crucial role, but we also urge communities to take shared responsibility,” Hlabisa said on Friday.
He urged communities to protect all children and work together with government to create safer and healthier environments.
In November 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a directive requiring all spaza shops and food-handling facilities to register with their respective municipalities.
This action was prompted by incidents involving foodborne illnesses that resulted in over 890 cases and nearly 30 deaths since September 2024.
In October last year, six primary school children from Naledi, Soweto, died after allegedly eating snacks from a foreign-owned local spaza shop.
Some of the children were confirmed to have died of poisoning linked to the agricultural pesticide terbufos.
According to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), spaza shops are crucial in local communities, often serving as the primary source of essential goods in underserved areas.
“We are here on humanitarian grounds to stand in solidarity with this young boy and his family during this difficult time,” said Hlabisa.
“It was our sincere hope that such incidents of poisoning would never happen again.”
READ | Hlabisa to visit child who consumed alleged contaminated snacks
The Minister believes that tragedies of this nature demand a united front and reaffirmed government’s commitment to working collaboratively to protect vulnerable communities.
“We are here in the spirit of the District Development Model because incidents like these require the combined efforts of all of government and all of society,” he said.
The District Development Model aims to improve the coherence and impact of government service delivery with focus on 44 Districts and 8 Metros around the country as development spaces that can be used as centres of service delivery and economic development, including job creation. – SAnews.gov.za
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Pink Hopper
A baby was born in South Africa. The village was very poor, and the makeshift hospital didn\’t have some necessary equipment.. such as scales.
The father however, was desperate to know the newborn baby\’s weight. After quite a bit of asking around, the hospital\’s chairman came up with an idea.
\”Five miles west, there\’s a butcher shop. The owner deals with meat, he should have a rather precise scale. You could just put your baby on the meat scale, and the weight reading you\’ll get should be pretty accurate.\”
And so the father departed westward. After much walking, with his newborn child cardled safely in his arms, he finally arrived at the butcher shop. He explained his dilemma to the shop owner, to witch the latter replied:
\”Don\’t worry, friend. It\’s not even a problem, I\’ll check it for you, free of charge.\” And so he took the child to the back, where the scale was located.
The father heard rumbling noises, and some scraping.. About a minute later the butcher came back.
\”About three pounds boneless\” He said.
mr. fabulous
The E in South Africa stands for electricity