The ban on the importation and use of Terbufos signals a shift toward safer, people-centred agriculture
Civil society groups have welcomed the cabinet’s approval of the ban on the use and importation of the highly hazardous pesticide, Terbufos, as a “significant victory”.
In October last year, six children died after eating snacks bought at a spaza shop in Naledi, Soweto.
Commonly known as Halephirimi, Terbufos is a chemical compound classified as an organophosphate and is used as an insecticide and pesticide.
Last Thursday, the cabinet said it had received a report from the inter-ministerial committee on foodborne illnesses with a special focus on organophosphate pesticides. The committee was advised by a ministerial advisory council on foodborne illnesses appointed by Health Minister Aaron Motsaledi.
The committee said the department of agriculture would lead the consultation process on the ban in line with its 2010 plan to eradicate poisonous insecticides and pesticides over a period of time and also work on identifying safer alternatives to Terbufos.
The banning of Terbufos signals the beginning of the transformation of an agriculture system that is “riven with conflict of interest, inequity, abuse of worker rights and the unchallenged hegemony of toxic chemicals,” the South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins (SAPToA) said.
“We will now likely see the deaths of children from this poison decline rapidly just as we saw with Aldicarb,” said Haidee Swanby, the coordinator of SAPToA.
Aldicarb was prohibited in 2016.
Swanby pointed out that not only do children die from organophosphates such as Terbufos but those who survive live with a lifetime of health and neurological problems.
The law governing the registration of pesticides is ancient, she noted. “It goes back to the post-war era where these chemicals that were used in the war were being repurposed for agriculture and we know a lot more about them now than we did back then, and of course this was also the apartheid era.”
With the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the pesticide registration in the country is “incongruent with our current law”, she said. “That needs a complete overhaul and as it stands now, it suits industry but that has to really be changed as soon as possible if we want to stay safe.”
Mechanisms for phasing out pesticides must be included in that law “so it’s not just automatically if you come with your pesticide and you can tick a few boxes, you automatically get registration”.
“The first port of call is to see how we phase out pesticides and how we think about the risks and benefits and what the trajectory of our agricultural production should look like in this new era with our Bill of Rights and our Constitution,” Swanby said.
SAPToA noted that despite a government policy adopted in 2010 to phase out highly hazardous pesticides and a regulation being issued in 2023 to restrict Terbufos, “business continued as usual for the chemical industry who, in the week before the Naledi children died, were still insisting they have more time to prepare for any regulations”.
“For industry, the death of our children due to their products is not an urgent matter. This cabinet decision, recognising our constitutional imperative to put the child’s best
interests first, marks the end of a long era where the chemical industry has undue
influence over the regulation of their deadly products.
“The highest level of government has reined in corporate impunity and said that all South Africans, particularly children, have the right to a safe and healthy environment.”
SAPToA said civil society would continue to push for the immediate ban of all 194 highly hazardous pesticides registered in South Africa and to reject the notion of phase-out periods subject to industry discretion, which is a “fig leaf for industry delay and prevarication”.
It is also calling for transparency in governance of agricultural toxins, beginning with making available a public database of all pesticides registered in the country as a constitutional right for all South Africans.
The Human Rights Commission said the cabinet’s decision to ban Terbufos is a milestone in the realisation of critical socio-economic rights, including the right to health, clean water, a safe environment and adequate food.
“It reflects an emerging shift towards a people-centred food system, where communities are empowered to determine their own approaches to production, markets, ecology, and culture, aligned with principles of social, economic, and environmental justice.”