{"id":866923,"date":"2026-07-27T13:33:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T11:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=866923"},"modified":"2026-07-27T13:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T11:33:09","slug":"gauteng-faces-major-food-security-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/866923\/gauteng-faces-major-food-security-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Gauteng faces major food security concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The City of Tshwane has begun reviewing the Public Protector’s preliminary findings regarding the enforcement of food safety regulations at spaza shops in Gauteng. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report indicated that municipalities in the province have failed to enforce food safety regulations at tuck shops and other food-handling businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This investigation was launched after several children across the country lost their lives in 2024 after allegedly consuming snacks from spaza shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The probe was launched because 20 children died in 2024, most of the victims were aged between eight and ten years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation found that toxic organophosphate pesticides were present in the snacks the children consumed. The report also highlighted that Gauteng has only around 30% of the environmental health inspectors it requires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that a large portion of tuckshops, informal shops and other food outlets operate with little or no oversight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Public Protector found a critical shortage of inspectors and that food-poisoning risks persist. On top of this, around 72% of informal (spaza) shops across South Africa are operating without licenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spaza shops, also known as tuck shops, originated in Apartheid-era South Africa when enterprising historically disadvantaged individuals were restricted from owning formal businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They began setting up informal, micro-convenience shops from their homes to serve their communities’ daily needs in the townships. Spaza is a generic Northern Sotho colloquial term meaning “hidden” or “camouflaged”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng Provincial Representative Vusumuzi Dlamini, who was part of the investigations, told SABC<\/a> that the local government, which is the municipality, bears the primary responsibility of enforcing food safety in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that municipalities are required by the Constitution to employ inspectors to ensure compliance by food retailers, spaza shops, and other food-preparation premises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Through our investigation and through our interaction with other stakeholders, in this instance, the Department of Small Business Development, they have been able to find possible cases of business fronting, fraud, as well as corruption,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food security under increased scrutiny in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

National Informal Traders Alliance of South Africa (NITASA) Deputy President Dumisane Fana told Talk Radio 702<\/a> that the issue stems from the municipality’s failure to enforce laws in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that this is what leads people to sell expired foods, and that the government does not inspect the spaza shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dumisane said that the municipalities have been taking bribes from the legal foreigners, which is why there are so many spaza shops around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, the safety of food sold at spaza shops once again came under scrutiny following alarming reports of an 8-year-old boy from Soweto, who was hospitalised for suspected food poisoning linked to snacks purchased from a local shop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This incident reignited long-standing concerns about food safety standards in informal food outlets, prompting calls from political parties for urgent regulatory reform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Democratic Alliance (DA) demanded stringent measures to ensure compliance among spaza shops, highlighting the life-threatening consequences of failing to enforce existing food safety regulations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Sergio Isa Dos Santos, Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, expressed grave concern over the ongoing health risks this year and emphasised the necessity for accountability from local governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur focus is the health and safety of Gauteng\u2019s residents, particularly its vulnerable populations, our children,\u201d the DA stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe tragic events involving the boy in Soweto are a stark reminder of the outstanding work that lies ahead, said the DA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party said that the deaths of 23 children due to hazardous organophosphate chemicals serve as a chilling backdrop to this ongoing crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statistics released by MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile, reveal a concerning picture of neglect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, out of 17,617 applications for Certificates of Acceptability, only 4,610 were issued to spaza shops and food-handling facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite over 31,000 inspections being conducted across municipalities, thousands of food outlets remain unregulated, putting public health at significant risk. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Food security is under increased scrutiny as investigations into Gauteng’s food retail continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":862645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2081704670930633008","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[6490,25880,1968],"class_list":["post-866923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-city-of-tshwane","tag-food-safety","tag-public-protector"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866923"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867603,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866923\/revisions\/867603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}