Soweto boy in ICU after buying snacks from tuckshop

THE Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa, has called for reinforced health and safety compliance at spaza shops after an eight-year-old boy was hospitalised after allegedly consuming snacks from a local tuckshop in Mapetla, Soweto.

- SIMON MAJADIBODU

Officials visited the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, where the child remains in the intensive care unit (ICU).

“What we need to embark on now is to reinforce the implementation that every spaza shop that did not go through the process of registration should not have its door open

“I am happy that the spaza shop in which the child is reported to have bought snacks that affected him is shut down.”

According to the City of Johannes-burg, the shop was closed on Monday by the city’s Environmental Health Department (EHD) on suspicion of selling contaminated snacks.

City of Joburg spokesperson Virgil James said the EHD acted after receiving a circulating video that showed a ward councillor reporting a suspected food poisoning case in Mapetla on Saturday.

He said on Monday, EHD inspectors interviewed the child's family.