President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged that “poor waste management in several municipalities” where “(rubbish) is not collected regularly (and) streets are not being cleaned, creating conditions for rats and other pests to thrive” is a factor in the use of lethal pesticides in poor communities.
In his televised address on Friday on the spate of deaths arising from food-borne poisons, Ramaphosa said: “In responding to these tragedies, we need to understand the cause of this challenge in our communities. One of the reasons that people use pesticides is to deal with rat infestation. The problem of rat infestation is due in part to poor waste management in several municipalities. Rubbish is not collected regularly, streets are not being cleaned, creating conditions for rats and other pests to thrive.
“Often, the poorest communities are the worst affected, and often the cheapest remedies that are used are these highly hazardous substances like Terbufos and Aldicarb.”
BusinessLIVE reports that Ramaphosa announced that all spaza shops have 21 days in which to register with the municipalities in which they operate, or run the risk of being closed if health standards are not met. Spaza shops “implicated in the deaths of children must be closed with immediate effect”.
He said that 22 children had died from food poisoning, and that, since the beginning of September, there had been 890 reported incidents of food-borne illnesses in all provinces.
Ramaphosa said: “Our people have every right to be upset and to be angry in the face of such tragedies. At a time like this, we need to unite as a country and work together to end these deaths. We must do what it takes to make sure such tragedies never happen again.”
[Photo: Garden Route District Municiplality]