Unlicensed butchery owners and co-accused appear in court

Six foreign nationals including a minor appeared in the Blue Down’s magistrate's court in Cape Town on Friday after being arrested for allegedly processing and packaging sausages in unsanitary conditions.

Somali nationals Mohammed Abdi Kadiye, 34, and Mohammed Ali Ahmed, 36, the owners of the illegal butchery in Mfuleni have been charged with contravention of the Food Stuff and Cosmetics Act and operating a butchery producing meat products without a legal certificate.

Police crime intelligence and city health officials raided the makeshift butchery manufacturing operation on Wednesday after a whistle-blower tipped off authorities about the unsanitary conditions.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said, “they are also charged with employing illegal foreigners in contravention of the Immigration Act”.

“Their co-accused, Malawian nationals Kondwani Mwezhande, 29, and Smart Chipod, 25, and Somali national Abduaallah Abdinour, are charged with the breaching the Immigration Act for being in the country illegally without the necessary papers.

“They are also charged with illegal production and operation of a meat product-producing operation without the legal certificate to do so,” said Ntabazalila.

The accused remain in custody, however the sixth accused, who is a minor and cannot be named, has been released into the custody of a guardian.

The case was postponed to November 18 for bail applications. 

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