Four people were arrested in connection with the food poisoning cases in Naledi in Soweto, Minster of Health Aaron Motsoaledi said on Saturday.
The minister, who made these remarks during a media briefing at the ANC’s NEC sub-committee on peace and stability, said that an illegal chemical substance seems to be the cause of the of the incidents.
Motsoaledi said that 100 health officials went to Naledi this past Monday to visited 84 spaza shops.
Motsoaledi said these health officials were trained by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) on how to look for the chemical that they think could be the cause of the problem.
Motsoaledi said that the health officials finished their work on Thursday and on Friday they were mopping up.
Of the 84 spaza shops that were visited by the health officials, only 49% of them are owned by foreign nationals. On the other hand, 51% are owned by South Africans.
“During the search, they did confess that there is an illegal chemical which they buy from a mall in Johannesburg,” Motsoaledi said.
The mall was then visited by 27 health officials and they confiscated 1,456 grams of that chemical.
“Four people were arrested. One man and three women were arrested for that activity, but two of them in terms of the laws of the country were given R2,000 bail. The others still in custody,” Motsoaledi said.
“The confiscated chemical is at Johannesburg central prison.”
IOL
Qiana Buresh
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