The department of health says there is no cockroach outbreak in the country.
The department has refuted reports that the country is experiencing a massive flare — up of cockroaches.
Last week, CropLife SA, an NPO that advocates for use of legal pesticides among other things, issued an alert about a “near pandemic” outbreak of German cockroaches throughout the country, with four provinces being the most affected. These are Gauteng, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal and were said to be the most affected due to the humid and wet conditions this past summer.
Departmental spokesperson Foster Mohale said there was no outbreak because their monitoring teams have not reported any outbreak.
“The department has received multiple media inquiries on this and we would have announced an outbreak of any nature and this is done by no-one else but the minister. No private organisation can announce an outbreak.
“The NICD [National Institute For Communicable Diseases of SA] would have also communicated with the department and as it stands we have had no alert. And if the outbreak is not within our scope of work, another government department would have announced.”
CropLife’s operational manager, Gerhard Verdoorn insisted that their research had found a problem, particularly in densely populated areas.
He said the research was sparked by multiple calls for help from members of the public complaining about cockroaches that they were struggling to get rid of.
According to the report, Kempton Park and areas around the airport were highly infested by insects. Areas like Tzaneen and Giyani in Limpopo, he said, were obvious cases due to the tropical weather patterns in the areas.
“Contrary to what people may believe, we also found that affluent areas were also struggling with cockroaches. I was surprised to see that an area like Sandton was also affected because we received many calls from there.”
He insisted that their research was correct and any contrary view should be followed up by research.
sibiyan@sowetan.co.za
SA doesn't have roaches outbreak, says health department
NPO in agric sector raised alarm about infestation
Image: 123RF/Anan Punyod
The department of health says there is no cockroach outbreak in the country.
The department has refuted reports that the country is experiencing a massive flare — up of cockroaches.
Last week, CropLife SA, an NPO that advocates for use of legal pesticides among other things, issued an alert about a “near pandemic” outbreak of German cockroaches throughout the country, with four provinces being the most affected. These are Gauteng, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal and were said to be the most affected due to the humid and wet conditions this past summer.
Departmental spokesperson Foster Mohale said there was no outbreak because their monitoring teams have not reported any outbreak.
“The department has received multiple media inquiries on this and we would have announced an outbreak of any nature and this is done by no-one else but the minister. No private organisation can announce an outbreak.
“The NICD [National Institute For Communicable Diseases of SA] would have also communicated with the department and as it stands we have had no alert. And if the outbreak is not within our scope of work, another government department would have announced.”
CropLife’s operational manager, Gerhard Verdoorn insisted that their research had found a problem, particularly in densely populated areas.
He said the research was sparked by multiple calls for help from members of the public complaining about cockroaches that they were struggling to get rid of.
According to the report, Kempton Park and areas around the airport were highly infested by insects. Areas like Tzaneen and Giyani in Limpopo, he said, were obvious cases due to the tropical weather patterns in the areas.
“Contrary to what people may believe, we also found that affluent areas were also struggling with cockroaches. I was surprised to see that an area like Sandton was also affected because we received many calls from there.”
He insisted that their research was correct and any contrary view should be followed up by research.
sibiyan@sowetan.co.za
Pesticide warning as South Africa is hit by cockroach infestations
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