The MEC for Transport and Community Safety, Xolile Nqatha, has noted with concern voice notes circulating on social media by certain community members and organisations alleging that foreign nationals are involved in food poisoning incidents in the province.

According to a Department of Transport and Community Safety (DOTCS) statement, MEC Nqatha assures the citizens of the Eastern Cape province that “no food poisoning incidents have been reported so far,” and encourages anyone with information to report it to law enforcement agencies.

Nqatha added, “The spread of falsehoods and misinformation is alarming, and we urge anyone with relevant information to come forward, as this is likely to cause panic and chaos in our communities.”

He stated that he is confident that members of the JCPS cluster are working diligently to tackle undocumented or illegal immigration.

“We cannot allow communities and organisations to take the law into their own hands or target innocent people based on nationality, ethnicity, or language,” he said. “South Africa remains a constitutional democracy founded on human dignity, equality, and the rule of law.”

Nqatha added, “As government, we are the first to admit that unemployment and poverty affecting citizens are an attack on our people’s dignity, but it cannot be used to criminalise people as a group based on their nationality.”

The statement added that the Department is committed to transforming the EC economy to make it work for the majority. “We are equally committed to dealing with criminal networks – both undocumented nationals and anyone in the country who breaks the laws of the Republic or harms citizens.

“Africans turning against Africans cannot be a solution, as the current conditions of people in Africa require a united continent more than ever before,” Nqatha concluded.

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