-
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba briefs the media after inspecting spaza shops in KwaZulu-Natal.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba says the government must urgently intervene and shut down all spaza shops owned by foreign nationals to prevent any further deaths after at least 23 people died since the start of last month.
This was after falling ill 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 foreign nationals across the country.
“Some of these illegal foreigners, they’ve got very dangerous armaments which we don’t know how they came into this country. Carry out raids with the army, close them down, and send them back to their country. It’s as simple as that. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to really find a solution to this problem. Today, our children have got to buy rotten food, an issue that we raised. It’s not only value poison, and expired goods, in fact, some of them actually serve as drug deal dens, and they’re selling drugs to our children. So, our children get hooked on drugs at a very early stage of their lives.”
Mashaba is further calling for the amendment of the constitution to bar foreign nationals from operating spaza shops.
“If you look at our Constitution, South Africa was built on the back of migrants. And I’ve always been very consistent that this country was built on the back of migrants. But we want them to come here legally and when they’re here to respect our laws. What you are seeing today, unfortunately, is a total disregard for our laws. And that’s something that I believe we should not really be allowed to be silenced on this. Our government, our own government, must really take responsibility for the death of these children. And at the same time, it is their responsibility to stop any further death that we don’t have time on our side, another death is one too many.”
