Abstract:
In African societies, traditional slaughter is linked to celebrations like weddings or births, as
well as funerals and ancestor veneration. Participants in traditional slaughter of goats are at
risk of exposure to hazards during slaughter, food preparation and consumption of goat meat.
For risk mitigation strategies to be implemented, identification of the population at risk is
required. This study is based on the premise that the demographic profile of people involved
in traditional slaughter of goats is important for risk communication. Both structured and
informal interviews were recorded and analysed using a thematic analysis. A total of 105
people were interviewed at taxi ranks in Tshwane, Gauteng. Of these, 48 were women and
57 men. The median age of women and men was 40.6 years and 44.3 years, respectively. The
majority of respondents (61.9%, n = 65) interviewed were from the Gauteng Province. Sixty
percent (n = 63) of respondents had a secondary education, whilst less than 4.81% (n = 5) of
respondents had no formal education. This study demonstrated that interviewing commuters
at taxi ranks gave access to a cross section of gender, age, language and origin. It was found
that both genders were involved in traditional slaughter of goats. Risk communication
strategies should thus target women as well as men. Communication strategies to mitigate
the risks of traditional slaughter of goats should take into consideration the dynamic nature of
demographic and cultural norms. In light of the wide demographic profile of the respondents,
it was concluded that it should be possible to use taxi ranks for successful dissemination of
food safety and occupational health risk mitigation messages.
