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Deadly pesticides still widely available in Joburg despite spaza shop crackdown

Deadly pesticides still widely available in Joburg despite spaza shop crackdown
A Terbufos seller in the Johannesburg inner city, at Lilian Ngoyi Street taxi rank, secretively sells a R10 packet to Daily Maverick. (Photo: Bheki Simelane)
Bheki C. Simelane
By Bheki C. Simelane
9 Mar 2025
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Terbufos, a highly hazardous pesticide responsible for the deaths of several children, still appears to be widely available despite its suspected links to the deaths of more than 20 children in 2024.

Terbufos and other highly hazardous pesticides appear to be readily available in Johannesburg spaza shops and from street vendors, despite promises of a crackdown following the deaths linked to pesticides in 2024 of more than 20 children.

Terbufos, a highly hazardous pesticide, was responsible for the deaths of six children in Naledi, Soweto, in October 2024, after they reportedly consumed snacks from a spaza shop. Pesticides are suspected to be linked to the deaths of more than 15 other children in similar circumstances last year, many of them in Gauteng.

Last week, Daily Maverick visited dozens of spaza shops, stalls and street vendors in Johannesburg in an attempt to see if Terbufos was available. 

deatly pesticides terbufos Terbufos is widely available across the Johannesburg CBD. Daily Maverick bought the smaller packets more than a year ago at R5, and larger packets in March 2025 in the inner-city at R10. (Photo: Bheki Simelane)



Of the 28 sellers visited, 23 openly admitted to selling Terbufos, usually at R10 for a small unmarked portion.

Daily Maverick could not independently verify that the products were Terbufos, which has long been available in small quantities on the street and is repackaged from its original purpose, large-scale agricultural use.

We came across a woman on Lillian Ngoyi Street, in Johannesburg’s CBD, who at first denied she was selling Terbufos, but when she was persuaded that we were legitimate buyers, she obliged and explained.

“I cannot just sell it openly nowadays. I do have, but I will need to package for you. People buy it a lot, especially after many businesses took it off the shelves. It’s like a thriving black market. I forgot to make more portions. You will wait while I portion it for you,” said the seller, who, like others Daily Maverick spoke to, asked to remain anonymous.

“I do have [Terbufos]. You must wait while I go and fetch it,” another seller on Lillian Ngoyi Street said.

“What do you want it for?” he asked.

We told him that we wanted to get rid of rodents, which he accepted. He instructed: “Plant laced portions of food everywhere before you go to bed.” 

When asked if this was the advice he gave all his customers, the shop owner nodded. 

When asked why he sold Terbufos after it had been implicated in food poisoning deaths, he cited the great need for the chemical. 

“I sell between 36 to 40 packets daily,” he said.

pesticided terbufos A Terbufos seller in the Johannesburg inner city, at Lilian Ngoyi Street taxi rank, secretively provides a R10 packet to Daily Maverick. (Photo: Bheki Simelane)



Another trader told Daily Maverick, “I did consider stopping selling it after the deaths of the children in Soweto, but people want it. They demand it. Others say they cannot access it anywhere besides the city centre. Maybe if the other street vendors stop selling I’ll follow suit.”

Calls for ban 


Calls for a ban on Terbufos and other highly hazardous chemicals were first made around 2008. There have since been persistent calls to ban the pesticide.

At the close of 2024, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) lobbied Parliament to impose a ban on Terbufos.

Read more: SAHRC calls for banning from agriculture of highly toxic pesticides that have killed many children

While Terbufos sales continue in Johannesburg, many of South Africa’s neighbouring countries have banned the hazardous chemical. Zimbabwe has not imported any Terbufos since 2022. Botswana banned Terbufos on 1 December 2024. 

Terbufos has also been banned by other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, including Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Madagascar, Tanzania, Malawi, Namibia, Mauritius, Mozambique, the Seychelles and Zambia.

In 2008, the WHO urged a global ban on this class of highly hazardous chemicals. Fast forward 15 years, and South Africa continues to permit its legal use, although it is illegal to repackage it and sell it for general household use.

Steenhuisen’s defence


Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen has resisted calls for the immediate banning of Terbufos, claiming it could negatively affect the agricultural sector. The department continuously reviews pesticides and agricultural products. 

In a briefing in November 2024, Steenhuisen said, “It is the department’s view that the Terbufos found in Gauteng does not emanate from one of the five South African producers, but comes instead from across South Africa’s borders. Another substance was found in spaza shops that was banned for production and sale in South Africa in 2016.

“These discoveries indicate that there is a supply chain coming from [outside the country]. However, the department is waiting for the independent laboratory results and the interactions with the five manufacturers to understand exactly where these substances are coming from and how the department can stop them coming into South Africa, if this proves to be the case.”

The department of agriculture failed to respond to multiple requests for comment on calls to ban the product and to explain what it was doing to keep the pesticide off the street.

Crackdown on sellers


Responding to a nationwide outcry after the illegal sale of pesticides was linked to the deaths of children, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in November 2024: “The first intervention is to get hazardous pesticides off the street. The second critical intervention is to protect children from exposure to these substances. The third critical intervention is to prevent future outbreaks.”

He ordered spaza shops to register, and this deadline has recently been reached. Despite the attempt to formalise the sector, the sale of the deadly pesticide apparently continues. 

The President also said law enforcement would “investigate, arrest and prosecute offenders”, although no one appears to have been charged in cases involving the deaths of the children. 

Ramaphosa also said regulatory officials and law enforcement would launch a comprehensive inspection and compliance investigation, which appears to have been implemented. However, inspectors have reported their work has been limited due to resource constraints. 

Calls for ban continue


In December 2024, a group of civil society organisations, academics and unions wrote to Steenhuisen, calling on the agriculture minister to immediately ban Terbufos. 

The group cited research that found that in only one Cape Town mortuary, out of 50 children who had died from poisoning between 2010 and 2019, 29 had Terbufos poisoning. 

“South Africa’s townships have long experienced problems with massive pest infestations and the selling of pesticides on streets and in informal markets. Street pesticides are poisonous substances that are legally registered for agricultural uses, but are decanted illegally into unlabelled beverage bottles or packets for home use.

“Or, they might be illegally packaged pesticides imported into SA and not registered for use. Typically, they are acquired from agricultural cooperatives, garden shops, and hardware stores,” the group told Steenhuisen in December.

“This restricted substance – Terbufos – is registered exclusively for use in the agricultural sector, including for use on maize, potatoes, dry beans and sorghum.

“However, it is widely available and can be bought in spaza shops and through street traders – as a so-called ‘street pesticide’ for domestic use in townships and informal settlements to control rats, as a result of the collapse of essential service delivery to the urban poor.”

In April 2022, the civil society group UnPoison praised plans to phase out highly hazardous chemicals by June 2024. That plan, however, lacked clarity and has not been acted upon.

The UnPoison network has been calling on the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to urgently embark upon a process to phase out the use of toxic pesticides.

The Commercial, Stevedoring, Agriculture and Allied Workers’ Union (CSAAWU) was among the organisations lobbying for a ban on Terbufos. 

“We sent a letter of demand to Minister Steenhuisen in December 2024, asking for an immediate ban on Terbufos, and a ban on highly hazardous pesticides within six months, failing which we would begin court proceedings,” CSAAWU’s Deneco Dube said. 

“The deadline for response was 28 February, which has passed. We have written to the minister again asking for their response; if it doesn’t come in the next week, we will begin instituting legal action,” said Dube, whose union members include farmworkers who have to use the pesticides despite claims they adversely affect their health. DM

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