Organophosphate identified as cause of Naledi kids’ deaths

The pupils fell ill after consuming snacks from a local spaza shop earlier in October. 

Briefing the media on the spate of food poisonings around the country, Motsoaledi said postmortem samples confirmed the chemical’s presence. 

More than 207 cases of food poisoning and 10 deaths have been reported in Gauteng since February.

Motsoaledi said a direct link to the shop has yet to be established as further analysis is underway.

"As you may remember we had informed you that samples were taken during post-mortems and sent for toxicology analysis. The results show that the cause of death is unequivocally organophosphate. As you know, organophosphate is not one substance but a group of substances, which are usually used in agriculture or as pesticides.

"The organophosphate identified in this instance is called Terbufos. In the past weeks, several chemicals were bandied around as possible causes of death. Some were even found in some retailers."

Last week, Gauteng police commissioner Tommy Mthombeni said traces of a chemical used to kill insects were found on samples of food sold at two spaza shops in Naledi.

"At the present moment, the samples that were taken via swabs in the various spaza shops in Soweto have been sent to the National Health Laboratory Service, and we are still waiting for the results,” said Motsoaledi.

"This means that while organophosphate was found in the bodies of these children, we are still waiting to see if the same organophosphate was found in the spaza shops, so up to so far, we have not made that link.

"It is also important to mention that the police did find the pocket of chips in the pocket of one of the children. This was also sent for analysis and the results are out and were found to be negative."

Motsoaledi further clarified that carbamate was not the cause of death, as per the toxicologist’s report.

"There is a slight difference between carbamates and organophosphates. One major difference is that organophosphate is much more lethal and can cause irreversible damage. Sometime last week, there was a statement that indicated carbamates were the cause of death.

“On Friday, we informed you that four people were arrested at the Johannesburg Mall because they were found trading in a chemical called Aldicarb. 1,450g of this chemical was confiscated.

"What led to their arrest is that during the operations in Naledi, some of the spaza shop owners confessed that those were the people who were selling them illegal chemicals. Aldicarb falls in the class of carbamates, and as stated, you can see that Aldicarb was not the cause of death in these cases, but it remains illegal to sell to the public because it is also a dangerous substance."

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