ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba says the government must urgently intervene and close all spaza shops owned by foreign nationals to prevent more deaths later. At least 23 people have died since the beginning of last month..

This was after getting sick from food they bought at spaza shops.

Action SA leaders visited spaza shops in Siyanda, Kwamamshu north of Durban, to inspect their operations.

Mashaba is calling for the deployment of the army to raid all spaza shops owned by illegal foreigners across the country.

“Some of these illegal aliens have very dangerous weapons that we don’t know how they got to this country. Conduct raids with the army, shut them down and send them back to their country. It’s as simple as that. You don’t have to be a genius to really find a solution to this problem. Nowadays, our children have to buy rotten food, an issue we raise. It’s not just about valuable poison and expired products; In fact, some of them serve as drug dens and sell drugs to our children. “That is why our children become addicted to drugs at a very early stage in their lives.”

Mashaba further calls for the constitution to be amended to prohibit foreigners from operating spaza shops.

“If you look at our Constitution, South Africa was built on immigrants. And I have always been very consistent that this country was built on the basis of immigrants. But we want them to come here legally and when they are here they respect our laws. Unfortunately, what we are seeing today is a complete disregard for our laws. And that’s something that I think we should not allow ourselves to be silenced about. Our government, our own government, must truly take responsibility for the deaths of these children. And at the same time, it is your responsibility to stop any additional deaths if we do not have time on our side, another death is too many.”

Food poisoning | Herman Mashaba is visiting spaza shops in KwaMashu township