The South African government has declared a state of national disaster after at least 24 children died from food poisoning. Since then, the managers of spaza shops, small grocery stores, have been implicated. Foreigners are particularly targeted.
In South Africa, a national state of disaster was declared after the death of 24 children from food poisoning. The reason: these little multi-colored bags of chips, children are fond of them, they buy them for a few coins. Within weeks, at least 24 died and nearly a thousand fell ill. On some packaging, traces of terbufos were discovered, a powerful pesticide used against rats.
The “spaza shops” are especially singled out, these tiny grocery stores, often made of sheet metal, open early in the morning and late in the evening in working-class neighborhoods. The government has already announced measures and controls for these shops run mainly by foreigners. Since then, they have been victims of a wave of xenophobia, as reported in the newspaper Le Monde. These traders are now required to register with the authorities, but this is mission impossible for foreigners.
We ask them for proof of investment of nearly 260,000 euros for a sheet metal grocery store. In front of the centers, activists from an anti-foreigners collective sort through, sending away all those who do not have a South African identity card. A young man from Bangladesh left empty-handed, despite having a work permit and a hygiene certificate. “They say they're going to set fire to my store. It's not the first time we've heard this, but it's the first time I'm afraid”, he tells the newspaper Le Monde.
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