The Public Protector has released her preliminary findings into the food safety failures that left at least 23 children dead from suspected food poisoning in 2024. But the report doesn't go far enough in examining the full supply chain that stocked those Gauteng spaza shops.
On 17 July 2026, Public Protector (PP) Kholeka Gcaleka released preliminary findings from a systemic investigation into suspected Gauteng spaza shop food safety failures.
The findings are damning. At least 23 children died from suspected food poisoning in 2024. Inspectors found rodent infestations, food stored directly on the ground, and the presence of Aldicarb - a highly toxic rat poison - on food premises.
Ekurhuleni is operating at a 5% food safety compliance rate. Johannesburg at 14%. Tshwane at 30%. Across the province, for every licensed spaza shop, almost three unlicensed ones are operating. Gauteng's municipalities are functioning at less than 30% of the environmental health practitioner staffing required by WHO and national standards.
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These are serious findings. They demand serious responses. And yet they describe only the last stretch of a supply chain that extends far beyond the spaza shop - and in doing so, they risk producing exactly the wrong policy response to a crisis whose causes begin much further upstream.
The question the investigation did not ask
The Public Protector's terms of reference focused on whether local government was effectively enforcing food safety and hygiene standards in the informal business sector. This is a legitimate question. But...
