Only targeting immigrant spaza shops is unconstitutional, warns human rights activist

• The head of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Project at Lawyers for Human Rights says it is unconstitutional to target and exclude foreign nationals from running spaza shops in communities.
• This follows a spate of incidents across the country where community members have threatened or tried to close down shops run by immigrants.
• The human rights group said such actions were “opportunistic scapegoating” for the deaths and hospitalisation of children in some parts of the country after ingesting chemicals.
• It said the focus should instead be on government’s failure to ensure that health and safety regulations are maintained at all food stores.

Only targeting immigrant-owned spaza shops and seeking to exclude immigrants from running spaza shops is unconstitutional, says Sharon Ekambaram, head of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Project at Lawyers for Human Rights.

She was commenting on a spate of incidents across the country where community members have threatened or tried to close down shops run by immigrants. This was in reaction to reports about the tragic deaths of more than 20 children and scores more who were hospitalised after ingesting chemicals.

In an address to the country on Friday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that there would be strict health inspections to prevent the misuse of chemicals, such as pesticides, and to improve food safety. He gave all spaza shop owners 21 days to register their businesses or face immediate closure.

But the human rights advocacy group is concerned that the actions by communities are “opportunistic scapegoating”.

“This kind of politicking while children are dying – has no words to describe how low politicians will go. In this instance, the failure to address the rat infestation is the real issue. By focusing on foreign-owned spaza shops, the focus shifts from holding the government at all levels accountable for its failure to ensure basic services, like waste removals in townships and informal settlements,” Ekambaram told GroundUp.

She said the insecticide industry and the state should enforce stringent regulations to make sure lethal poisonous substances are not being sold on the streets.

Some spaza shops owned by immigrants closed ahead of visits by the local business forum in Phuthaditjhaba.

Last week, a group of about 100 people, led by members of a local business forum, gathered at the Tsheseng shopping complex in Phuthaditjhaba, Free State, with the intention of shutting down about a dozen immigrant-owned shops.

The group went store to store. However, they passed one shop that was being protected by about 30 local men armed with weapons concealed by Basotho blankets. In Thibela, the group confronted a landlord who rented a shop to an immigrant. They also went to a shop owned by Ramato Hamid, from Ethiopia, and forced him to close for the day.

Hamid later told GroundUp that he was “still in shock”.

“I was afraid. I was thinking they would beat me. I am still afraid that they will come again.”

“I don’t know what we did to those people. We need protection from the South African police. I think the president should address this. We have the correct documents, and I believe we have rights as foreign nationals. Yes, I was afraid to open a case, but I opened it either way. We are not going anywhere. We have done nothing wrong,” he said.

Hamid opened a case against one of the group’s leaders. The 47-year-old man appeared briefly in Tsheseng Magistrate Court on Friday on charges related to public violence, intimidation and refusing arrest. But he was released when the charges were withdrawn.

In his address, Ramaphosa said that any unregistered shop and those that do not meet all health standards and requirements will be closed. He said non-compliant businesses and shops linked to any poisoning incidents or found to unlawfully stock hazardous chemicals will also be shut down.

“Since the beginning of September, there have been a total of 890 reported incidents of food-borne illnesses across all provinces. A massive campaign of door-to-door inspection of all spaza shops, tuck shops and other informal traders will be undertaken, starting with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. This will be undertaken by inter-disciplinary inspection teams consisting of the Military Health Services, environmental health practitioners, the SAPS, the National Consumer Council, labour inspectors and others,” he said.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases has been requested to conduct scientific tests to establish whether the deaths of six children in Naledi, Soweto, can be directly attributed to a highly hazardous chemical used as a pesticide known as Terbufos.

“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. 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,” Ramaphosa said.

Police monitor a group led by a local business forum as they moved through Tsheseng village, going store to store last week.