Guest: Bishop Rakuba Rakoba - SACC, Gauteng Province
Children's deaths in Soweto and the West Rand have drawn attention to the risks associated with the continuous sale and consumption of fake items in spaza shops. Four kids passed away last week after consuming fake snacks and biscuits that were poisonous. It was a shocking discovery for South Africa as it was revealed that businesspeople from Pakistan and Bangladesh were running a covert fake food production facility in Swaneville, just 3 km from Krugersdorp. A production hub of fake beans, packaged as Koo beans, fake cornflakes, spaghetti, noddles, cough syrup, fake cool drinks such as Lemon Twist and Coca-Cola, milk, and Grand-Pa medication for headaches
Producing fake goods and food is not a recent development. Five men and a woman were detained by Northern Cape police in 2018 for manufacturing fake shoes, food, condiments, sanitary towels, and other products.
Communities are calling for these Pakistan/Bangladeshi shops to be closed.
Questions: What can the religious community do to mitigate this problem?