Concern over cockroach ‘near-pandemic’ infestation
Durban - A surge in cockroach infestation in parts of the country has sparked health and safety concerns.
In a recent report, the non-profit organisation, CropLife South Africa said the very wet and humid past summer brought about what they called “a near-pandemic” outbreak of cockroaches throughout the country.
The German cockroach has been identified as the most common found especially in Gauteng, the Western Cape, the coastal areas of KwaZulu-Natal – from Richards Bay to Port Shepstone, and from the lowveld part of Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
However, other experts in the field played down the concerns.
Nonetheless, Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, Operations and Stewardship Manager for the association, the infestation exposed the large-scale unlawful use of pesticides which were not registered for indoor use and their potentially disastrous effects.
“I get lots of calls from the public about how to control pests. In February last year I saw a surge in the number of calls about cockroaches. Normally you get roaches a bit in summer. In July last year people were asking me about a pesticide that was sold via Facebook and WhatsApp and it struck me because this was a pesticide for agriculture, not indoors. This tells me that people were getting desperate and trying to control the cockroaches. The Department of Agriculture has been helping me clamp down on the illicit trade of pesticides,” said Verdoorn.
He said the cockroaches have been found in all neighbourhoods, from the affluent to poor and informal settlements.
“People in blocks of flats are especially affected. We had terrible drought in the country at the beginning of 2021 and we’ve had rainfall in the last two years. Cockroaches thrive in these conditions. Poor service delivery, lots of refuse and waste foods lying around these create a living area for the cockroaches. A dirty kitchen or food left out overnight creates an environment for them. If you take away their food source there won’t be this issue. I’ve literally seen hundreds of cockroaches in kitchens.
“CropLife SA is also concerned that people are buying non-registered pesticides that could be harmful. The chemical used is called ‘dichlorvos’ which is good for agriculture, but when it is used indoors it doesn’t break down and for this reason should not be used indoors” said Verdoorn.
Dr Costas Zachariades, Senior Researcher at the Agricultural Research Council based at Cedara, near Howick, said German cockroaches have been in the country many years.
“It’s cyclical, it has outbreaks and then it will die down depending on climate and other factors. I don’t think this is particularly alarming because there haven’t been any changes genetically in cockroaches or any major new introduction of cockroaches.
“They’ve reached a high population at the moment but when it becomes dry again in the next few years they’ll die down. The American cockroaches are the big ones, and the German cockroaches are the small ones and are found across SA to varying degrees. If you clean up, there shouldn’t be an issue, but removing them can be a challenge once they’re in,” he said.
Dr Caswell Munyai, from the School of Life Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said the outbreak should not be seen as a near-pandemic.
“The problem comes in with them going from raw sewage into food.
“They are crawling everywhere, so they transmit diseases and other problems. We need to find a natural way for death because pest control is not working. Geckos also eat insects, which helps but we need more research on the matter because right now all we have is pesticides,” said Munyai.
Foster Mohale, Director of Communications for the national Department of Health, said the department was not aware of the outbreak.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.