Black First Land First leader Andile Mngxitama intends lodging a criminal complaint on Monday against Enterprise Foods and Rainbow Chicken after the death of 180 people due to a listeriosis outbreak.

Mngxitama said in a tweet on Monday that one of the companies knew since February 14 that its products were allegedly harming people‚ yet “did nothing”.

He called on police minister Bheki Cele to act “firmly and urgently”.

“Actually #enterprise must be shut down! They knew for 18 days that they selling us poison‚” he alleged.

The companies were named by health minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Sunday as being a source of listeria after a series of tests were carried out by authorities. Enterprise said in a statement that the company reaffirmed its “commitment to recall the identified Enterprise products as soon as possible”.

Tiger Brands‚ which owns Enterprise‚ was due to meet with the National Consumer Commission (NCC) on Monday and will hold a press briefing afterwards.