About 25 learners from Ikaya Primary School in South Africa were hospitalized with gastrointestinal symptoms after allegedly eating chips from street vendors. The vendors reportedly source snacks from foreign-owned shops.

The community called a meeting with Somali shop owners to address the issue. While it's not confirmed the chips directly came from them, precautions are being taken. Parents are urged to prepare lunch boxes instead of giving money to prevent such incidents.

The learners received appropriate care, and no hospitalization was required. This incident follows previous cases of children falling ill after consuming snacks from foreign-owned shops in different regions of South Africa.

A recent study by Accenture, covered last week by this paper, emphasised the risks generated by the unregulated spaza shop sector, where logistical supply chains are unreliable, and often depend on counterfeit and foreign goods that lie outside the control of government regulations.

With over 150,000 Spaza shops spread across the nation, these establishments are more than mere local convenience stores. They also serve as essential sources of additional household income for many families.

The informal sector, where Spaza shops thrive, represents a substantial portion of the nation's annual food expenditure, estimated at 30% to 40%. This sector signifies a staggering potential market value of R178 billion, offering significant opportunities for businesses.

Provincial government are well aware of the risks these outlets pose to public health, but the power to resolve the issue is limited without control of police and justice system apparatus, which still lie in the hands of the ANC.

In a special project period between July 2021 and February 2022, the City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee's Community Services and Health member, Patricia van der Ross, revealed that they assessed 2,795 Spaza premises. Three were prohibited from trading, and in 68 cases, food was confiscated and prevented from being sold. Fourteen instances involved spoiled or rotten perishable food believed to be unsafe for human consumption at the time of assessment.

A month ago, two Grade 1 pupils from Soweto died after eating biscuits and drinking juice bought from their local foreign-run spaza shop, and two further children were hospitalised. At the same time in the Eastern Cape, more than 120 pupils were treated for illness caused by foodstuffs bought from such informal establishments.