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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

I offer my warm congratulations to the Prime Minister-Elect of Mauritius on his return to high office after his success as an opposition leader in Mauritius’s recent election.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

As we undertake these interventions and measures, there is a lot that we can do as parents to protect our children. As consumers and parents, if we buy food or send our children to buy food, it must only be from places that are licensed to sell foodstuffs and that observe food safety regulations.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

The third intervention will be aimed at preventing future outbreaks: - I have directed that Joint Operational and Intelligence Structures be established at a national and provincial level to deal with this crisis.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

The second intervention is about the protection of children from exposure to harmful substances: - The Department of Basic Education will immediately issue a circular to Education Departments and all schools on best practice protocols for preventing and managing foodborne illnesses within schools.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

The following measures will be implemented with immediate effect. To get hazardous pesticides off the street: - The spaza shops which have been implicated in the deaths of children will be closed with immediate effect.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Following the special meeting of Cabinet, we have decided to make the following interventions: The first intervention is to get hazardous pesticides off the street.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

These products are just as likely to be sold in shops owned by South Africans. We all have a duty – as the State, as a society, as parents and families – to protect those among us who are most vulnerable.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

We need to prevent the spread of misinformation. The investigations that have taken place do not suggest any deliberate campaign to poison children in our country. There is also no evidence that the problem is confined to spaza shops owned by foreign nationals only.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Our response must therefore address all the factors that contribute to the problem.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Another challenge is that responsibility for environmental health that should happen in our communities is the responsibility of local government. Many municipalities do not have the capacity andresources to conduct inspections of these businesses and enforce regulations.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

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.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

One reason 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 aren't being cleaned, creating conditions for rats and other pests to thrive.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Last year, three children in Ekurhuleni and three children in Soweto died after exposure to Aldicarb. In responding to these tragedies, we need to understand the cause of this challenge in our communities.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

In many townships another chemical, Aldicarb, and an organophosphate known as Galephirimi are commonly sold by street vendors and hawkers to control rat infestations. Aldicarb has been banned for use in South Africa since 2016.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Even as our investigations are ongoing, it is critical to understand that this is not a problem confined to spaza shops and other informal traders. The unregulated use of restricted pesticides in communities has become a growing problem, with devastating consequences.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

They found instances where food was being stored alongside pesticides and detergents. It was also found that these spaza shops lacked proper safe food storage, hand and dishwashing facilities, increasing the likelihood of food contamination.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

After stringent testing, a chip packet found on one of the children who had died had traces of Terbufos on both the inside and the outside of the packet. As part of the investigation into the Naledi deaths, inspectors confiscated a number of illegal pesticides from spaza shops.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

However, Terbufos is being informally sold as a so-called ‘street pesticide’ for domestic use in townships and informal settlements to control rats. Samples were taken from 84 spaza shops in the Naledi area. Of these, three had evidence of Terbufos.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Terbufos can have serious health effects, even at low levels of exposure. Terbufos is an organophosphate chemical that is registered in South Africa for agricultural use. It is not allowed to be sold for general household use.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

This is what we now know. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases was requested to conduct scientific tests and has established that the deaths of the six children in Naledi, Soweto can be directly attributed to a highly hazardous chemical used as a pesticide known as Terbufos.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Cabinet has met on three occasions to receive reports from these departments on the recent incidents.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

As soon as the deaths occurred, multidisciplinary teams in government were activated to address these incidents. These teams included detectives from the South African Police Service, environmental inspectors, Department of Agriculture officials and officials from the National Consumer Commission.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Our thoughts and prayers are with their families as they go through the pain and the anguish of losing their children. Losing a child is something no parent should ever have to endure. The young children who died weren’t just children of their families. They were our children.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Last month there was a major food-borne incident in Naledi in Soweto in which six children died. The youngest of these children was just six years old. Few words can adequately convey our sadness and our pain as a nation.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Since the beginning of September 2024, there have been a total of 890 reported incidents of food-born illnesses across all provinces. Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have been the most affected, with Limpopo, Free State and Mpumalanga also recording dozens of incidents.

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

I wish to address you this evening on a matter that has deeply saddened and distressed our nation. Across the country, there's been a rise in cases of food-borne illness and death. It has been found that some of the items were purchased from spaza shops and street vendors. #PromotingFoodSafety

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Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 @cyrilramaphosabsky.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

As we mark National Children’s Day, we must strengthen our collective resolve to ensure that every child has a safe, caring and nurturing childhood. tinyurl.com/3wtv5vu3 #LeaveNoOneBehind 🇿🇦

tinyurl.com

From the desk of the President | The Presidency

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