Ekurhuleni family loses 2 kids from ‘contaminated snacks’
A team has been set up to investigate the latest in a string of recent incidents of food-borne deaths and illness involving children.
Gauteng acting premier Kedibone Diale Tlabela visited the families of three Ekurhuleni children who died on Monday, allegedly after eating contaminated food.
The Xaba family lost two children, six-year-old Hope, and her brother four-year-old Owami last Wednesday.
Diale Tlabela outlined the steps taken to intervene at the affected school, adding that health inspectors had cleared the department of any wrongdoing after tests were done on the school nutrition program.
“There’s a team that has been established on the side of education just to investigate the spaza shops, as well as the school nutrition [program]. The school nutrition has been written off by the department of health's inspectors.”
It’s alleged the siblings were part of a group of pupils from the Sonqoba Primary School who fell ill last Monday, allegedly after eating snacks they had purchased.
Meanwhile, 29 other pupils from the Setsing Primary School, in Thokoza, were rushed to a healthcare facility after falling ill.
According to the Gauteng Education Department, the Setsing Primary School’s governing body and management had permitted vendors to operate within the school grounds- to avert the risk of food-borne illnesses.
However, the department said it seemed some of these vendors sold expired products which may have led to the group of pupils in grades 3 to 6 falling ill.
At the same time, Gauteng’s Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile reiterated his call for the president to intervene.
Maile joined the acting Gauteng Premier Kedibone Diale Tlabela in Ekurhuleni on Tuesday.
The MEC first made the call in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, on Monday while visiting the family of 10-year-old Lesedi Maaboi who died under similar circumstances.
Maile said the government would stop at nothing to tackle the widespread problem.
“We would like the national government, especially the president, to look at declaring this as a disaster because it’s out of hand. We have to do something drastic and change the situation.
“It’s just not right that we’re always called upon to respond to a crisis of this nature.”
Commenting on Maile’s visit to the family on Monday, Maaboi’s father Joshua said he felt indifferent the government was too slow to offer a permanent solution while children in communities remain at risk.
“Instead of doing this, they must put more effort into doing proper inspections; who runs the shop, and where did they get the stock? I think that might help.”
He said his wife and son were recovering well in hospital after consuming the same snacks that were suspected to have led to Lesedi’s sudden death.
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