Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka placed responsibility for the deaths of 23 children in Gauteng in 2024 on the province’s municipalities, and their failure to enforce environmental health standards.

She was speaking at the release of preliminary findings of an investigation into the deaths, which were due to food poisoning traced to food that had been bought at spaza shops. The investigation had sought to establish whether institutions responsible for safeguarding public health had failed in their duties.

Gcaleka said that Gauteng’s municipalities had a chronic shortage of environmental health inspectors, which meant that dangers often went unnoticed.

She said that a good standard was for at least one environmental health practitioner (EHP) to service 10 000 people. Gauteng would need around 1 600 to meet this standard. She said that none of the province’s municipalities operated with more than 50% capacity in this regard, with the provincial average at just 30.3%.

In Johannesburg, staffing in environmental health positions was at 50%, Ekurhuleni was at 23%, and Tshwane was at 21%. Sedibeng only managed 16% and the West Rand District Municipality 18%.

In the aftermath of the poisonings, there had been a drive to register spaza shops. Available information suggested that only about 28% of them were registered, meaning that there were close to three unlicensed outlets operating for each licenced one. The lowest rate was in Ekurhuleni, with a compliance rate of some 5%.

“The legislative function of business registrations, including the processing of applications to operate spaza shops, resides with local government,” Gcaleka said. “Municipalities are designated as business licensing authorities and as such execute this function through their local economic development departments. A designated municipality retains final authority over zoning permits, floor plans, fire compliance certificates, and business land‑use rights and approvals.”

Gcaleka issued a series of recommendations to deal with the matter, and to prevent another tragedy. These included requiring municipal managers to audit their EHPs to identify capacity gaps within 30 days and to formulate plans to address then within 60 days. These plans would include steps to increase monitoring and inspections of food premises.

She also instructed the police and South African Revenue Service to investigate such matters as fraud, corruption, and non-fulfilment of tax obligations.

“These findings demand immediate, coordinated, and uncompromising action from every state role player. The intended remedial action aims to restore the rule of law, capacitate our institutions, and ensure that the people of South Africa are never exposed to the consequences of these systemic failures again,” she said.

In common with the infrastructural and service deficits, the inability to maintain required monitoring of food outlets illustrates the state of much of South Africa’s municipal governance, and administrative practices that have not prioritised necessary outcomes. Often an easy source of local-level patronage, municipalities have been particularly vulnerable to political and even criminal capture. This is a growing problem in some of South Africa’s largest and most important cities.