The deaths of five children in South Africa’s Soweto township after eating allegedly poisoned food prompted calls Thursday for a boycott of foreign-owned stores, fuelling tension in a country with a history of xenophobic violence.

Two girls and three boys aged seven to nine died Sunday in the township outside Johannesburg after eating snacks from a “spaza shop”, or small corner store, their families told local media.

Authorities are investigating the case, which also saw a sixth child hospitalised in intensive care.

The shop was run by a Somali national, who was hounded out of the area on Tuesday by angry locals.

Soweto residents have held small protests in the area over the past three days to demand that officials shut down the shops, which some locals claim sell expired or toxic food.

There were also reports of looting at some spaza shops which are often owned by foreigners from other African countries.

“We must take a decision as a society that we are not buying at the spaza shops,” Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told journalists Thursday.

“We must decide what is in our best interest, and I’m sure the lives of our children and our own lives are more important than buying cheaper fake products,” she said.

Last week, three children between one and four died in the Eastern Cape province after eating an instant porridge product manufactured in neighbouring Namibia that was later recalled.

In 2019, South African mobs descended on foreign-owned stores in and around Johannesburg in a wave of xenophobic unrest that left a dozen people dead. (Daily Trust)