Spaza shops belonging to foreign immigrants remain closed in parts of Tsakane, Ekurhuleni, following the death of the six-year-old Refiloe Usman who died after allegedly consuming poisonous cakes bought from a local spaza shop last week.
Refiloe was on Saturday laid to rest following a sombre funeral service held at the Theisa Burgers Pre-primary School in Tsakane.
The funeral was attended by members of Operation Dudula, the community and Dudula leader, Isaac Lesole who vowed to kick illegal immigrants out of the community in honour of the young Grade 1 learner.
Lesole said the life of Refiloe was cut short by an uncaring government that has allowed illegal foreigners to operate spaza shops without operating permits.
“The life of Refiloe was cut short and we, as Operation Dudula, insist that this was not supposed to be. As the community of Tsakane, we say we should have done better to protect you. As a promise to you, we say, those who are responsible for your death will never find peace. We will take back our spaza shops from these illegal foreigners who continue to kill our children while our government remains silent,” Lesole told mourners on Saturday.
After consuming the cookies, Refiloe reportedly started vomiting and died before she could be taken to hospital. Four other learners were then rushed to hospital.
The family blamed the delay in emergency services, saying if the ambulance had arrived in time or teachers had tried to rush their child to hospital, their child would not have died.
Speaking to The Star, Mandlethu Primary School principal, Thembeni Mdluli, said they were robbed of the child’s potential as she had only been at school for 15 days before her untimely death.
“We were just still getting used to seeing a father who was so hands-on with his child that he accompanied the child to school every day to ensure that his child gets an education. We were not ready for what has happened and I know the father probably blames himself for buying cakes from this shop.
“As things stand, Refiloe’s class teacher has not been well since the incident and it is said that the father might be feeling bad about his loss. We want to offer strength to him, the family and our very own teacher, who is struggling to come to terms with what happened,” Mdluli said.
The latest incident saw other four other children aged two, three and nine years being treated for food poisoning at the Pholosong Regional Hospital, also in Tsakane.
Last week, the Gauteng Department of Health in the province recorded more than 11 spaza shop-related deaths with more than 800 incidents of food poisoning allegedly due to food bought from spaza shops.
However, Lesole said these figures are not the reality on the ground.
“The figures confirmed by the department are grossly under-reported as there are many deaths and incidents of poisoning that have not made headlines and thus have not been accounted for,” he said.