Boy ‘poisoned’ from snacks relapses

This spaza shop in Mapetla, Soweto, was closed by residents following the hospitalisation of an eight-year-old boy after eating snacks bought from the shop.

The condition of the Mapetla boy in Soweto who was hospitalised after eating contaminated snacks from a spaza shop has taken a turn for the worse, and he is now back on life support after experiencing breathing problems.

The child was removed from life support last week after doctors at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital were happy with his progress as he was breathing on his own. The child has been at the hospital since April 4.

However, his mother Tshidi Molodela said the eight-year-old started having breathing problems on Tuesday night.

“He is back to square one. I was shocked because the last time I visited him, he was breathing on his own,” Molodela said.

We are trying to be strong despite still mourning her younger sister, whom we buried on Saturday,

Grandmother

Meanwhile, the 10-year-old North West girl who lost her eight-year-old sister after they had both eaten snacks alleged to have been contaminated is also fighting for her life at Mahikeng Provincial Hospital.

The two children were on their way to school on Friday, April 11, when they bought snacks at a house nearby. They both allegedly started getting ill at school and were rushed to a local clinic and were later transferred to the hospital. The younger child, however, died that afternoon.

“We are trying to be strong despite still mourning her younger sister, whom we buried on Saturday,” the child’s grandmother said.

While the two children are fighting for their lives, the department of small business development officially launched the R500m Spaza Shop Support Fund with the aim of helping owners who want to improve, expand and sustain their shops.

The government hopes the fund will increase the participation of South African-owned spaza shops in the townships and rural areas.

One of the requirements for spaza shop owners to receive funding is that they must be registered with the local municipality in accordance with the relevant bylaws and business licensing requirements.

There will also be a maximum of R100,000 for training programmes that will include point of sale devices, business skills, digital literacy, credit health, food safety and business compliance.

However, Bongani Mabuza of African Accent Spaza Shops said these trainings will be a waste of time because they will not be valuable to their members. He said the problem was that it will be people with a degree in business and no experience in the sector who will be sent to tell them how to run their long-existing businesses.

“We have been to trainings before but none of them met us in our place of growth.

“They are just bringing people who will make this funding deplete very fast. Our members have been in the business space for decades and they can at least upgrade us by teaching us how to set up online stores for our spaza shops and how to move to the digital space,” he explained.