Five-year-old Siyabonga Mnisi excitedly reached out to his father, Samuel Mnisi, just days before his graduation. “Dad, I’ll be graduating on Friday, please come watch me. I will be speaking English and they say parents must be there, please attend,” he wrote.
Tragically, Samuel will never witness his son’s milestone, as Siyabonga died from a suspected foodborne illness after consuming snacks from a nearby spaza shop.
“I don’t know where to go and what to do. I am still shocked… I don’t know what to say,” Samuel lamented.
The father had made plans to attend the graduation, paying for the ceremony and arranging special attire for his son. “I was planning to knock off at 10am so I can spend time with him,” he added, clearly heartbroken over the loss.
Siyabonga fell ill shortly after eating the snacks at around 6pm on a Wednesday evening. He was with three other children, who were also hospitalised. Samuel received a frantic call informing him that his son was unwell and needed urgent medical attention. Just thirty minutes later, he received another call, this time with the devastating news that Siyabonga had died.
“I got into the taxi and went to the hospital. When I got there, I could not believe what happened,” he recounted.
Siyabonga’s mother, Thandeka Ndalinane, was at home when her son and his friends went to buy snacks from the spaza shop. The children had allegedly received money from the mother of one of the other children still in hospital. Neighbours later informed Thandeka that her son was in distress.
“I found him in the streets, and I asked him what was wrong. He told me his stomach was sore. He was very weak, he could not even walk. I carried him and brought him to the house, called an Uber, and then took him to the clinic.” Sadly, despite her efforts, Siyabonga was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the clinic, while his three friends remained hospitalised.
In response to the tragedy, concerned residents of Diepkloof have called for the spaza shop to be shut down. Demonstrators gathered in front of the shop, singing and chanting, while police and crime prevention wardens maintained a watchful presence. Some residents shouted, “They must leave,” referring to the shop owner and his assistants.
Maria Gololo, the landlord of the shop, expressed her own frustrations. She had been renting the space to the trader for ten years, charging R2,800 in monthly rent. “I don’t want them in my yard anymore. I don’t know if it’s the love of money, but we’ve been hearing these stories from other areas in Soweto that children are dying,” she stated. “I took them in and allowed them to operate because I was getting something (money).”
“Immediately when the community leaves, these people open the spaza shop and start operating. A family member had also asked them to close the spaza shop on Sunday, but they still opened it. The community did not have to wait for this to happen,” she said.
Health and environmental experts were dispatched to the scene to collect samples from the shop, aiming to determine the source of the foodborne illness that claimed Siyabonga’s life. Gauteng Economic Development and Finance MEC Lebogang Maile visited the area and described the conditions of the spaza shop as “not hygienic, nor conducive.” He noted that the individuals running the establishment slept and bathed within the shop itself.
Maile confirmed that the shop owners were in the country legally, but he expressed serious concerns about the state of the food being sold. “Currently, we have health and environmental inspectors who are looking at all the items. I have seen them [the items] myself; they’ve expired, so those that expired must be confiscated,” he stated.
While acknowledging the anger and concern of the community, Maile cautioned against generalising all spaza shops as “bad.” “Yes, we’re angry, upset, concerned and worried, but it doesn’t mean we must act irrationally and outside the ambit of the law. We need to ask our communities to take responsibility because they know about the existence of the illegal unhygienic tuck shops like this one and continue to buy from it,” he said.
Dumezweni Primary School in Diepkloof has since postponed the graduation ceremony in honour of Siyabonga, a poignant reminder of the joy that has been tragically cut short.
