City of Tshwane officials inspecting spaza shops in Bengal Road in Laudium last year, ensuring that the shops follow the City’s by-laws. Picture: Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to soon outline interventions on food safety cutting across many departments and State bodies in response to the rise in widespread contamination cases reported mostly in the consumption of dry goods from informal township businesses.
This comes as the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), in response to questions on its role in the monitoring and assurance of food quality from manufacturing sources or ports of entry, yesterday admitted that “for voluntary testing and certification, some companies provide false claims of SABS approval to consumers e.g. bottled water. These are addressed through the legal process.”
SABS spokesperson Itumeleng Mphahlele said the Standard Act of 2008 removed all regulatory powers of the SABS, so the SABS cannot conduct inspections and do regulatory activities, only regulators can.
“In this instance, the Department of Health is the regulator,” said Mphahlele.
Foster Mohale, spokesperson for the Department of Health said the department was working with various stakeholders such as the National Consumer Commission and municipalities to conduct regular health inspections.
Mohale said they did these unannounced and announced inspections at private food production establishments, from manufacturing, packaging and storage, in a bid to ensure compliance with relevant food-handling and hygiene regulations.
“It is expected that the President will outline the government response and further interventions when he addresses the nation in the next few days because it cuts across many departments and State bodies,” Mohale said,
However, he would not be drawn on the department’s proposals towards the interventions, saying: “I don’t want to indirectly announce before the President but watch this space.”
Meanwhile, the SABS said its mandate was to develop and promote South African national standards and that regulators decided whether they make the national standards it developed compulsory or not.
“We must also add that SABS provides testing and certification, but this is on a voluntary basis. At local level, municipalities have a role to play in licensing retailers and in the enforcement of standards,” Mphahlele said.
Democratic Alliance spokesperson on health Karl le Roux said the lack of sufficient Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) responsible for enforcing health standards, educating businesses, and conducting inspections, posed a serious risk to public safety.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and South Africa’s own National Environmental Health Policy, there should be one EHP for every 10 000 people.
“The latest figures show that South Africa has only 1 712 EHPs, a fraction of the 6 203 required for adequate coverage,'” le Roux said.
Ramaphosa’s impending announcement is likely derived from the mandate to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa who has been tasked with implementing new regulatory measures, with a focus on comprehensive inspections and the enforcement of strict health and safety protocols.
The initiative involves the input from the health and agriculture sectors, as well as local law enforcement agencies, to ensure that spaza shops nationwide meet the mandated health standards.
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