A devastated Soweto family has described their desperate and frantic attempts to save the lives of two young cousins when the children fell violently sick after apparently consuming products from a local foreign-owned shop.
Neo Khang and Katlego Mbatha were among four children who apparently ate biscuits and juice they bought using a R5 coin given to them by a relative.
Khang and Leon Jele, both aged six, died after consuming the goods, while Mbatha and Olwethu Zikhali were rushed to hospital. One of them is in a critical condition.
The incident, which happened in the Naledi section of the township, has left the community reeling.
The foreign-owned shop where the children allegedly bought the goods from has ceased operations after its owner was taken in for questioning.
Sombre residents said the shop had been operating in the area for years.
On Tuesday, scores of community members gathered in front of the brightly coloured shop after they spotted Naledi police escort the shop owner home from the police station.
He arrived in the back of a grey unmarked SUV in the company of several uniformed police officers. Shortly after, more officers arrived at the scene to maintain the peace and stop angry residents from harming him or looting the store.
A street away, Mathota Khang and her family are struggling to deal with Neo’s sudden death, while they also cling to hope that Katlego recovers.
Khang opened up to TimesLIVE Premium about what happened on Sunday and the headache the family faces as they prepare to lay Neo to rest.
The Khang home was a hive of activity. The yard has a main four-roomed house and four other shacks occupied by various family members with their offspring.
Various family members made their way back and forth between the house and shacks, while a lone child was seen wandering around the yard as if trying to make sense of the activity. .
The barefooted little boy is a cousin to Neo and Katlego and doesn’t fully comprehend what happened or just how lucky he is to be alive.
According to Khang, the little boy had spotted the four children munching on the sweet treat and had begged them to share, but they refused. This act may have saved his life, says his family.
Khang, 67, explained that the Sunday started off on an uneventful note as the children played near their home with Leon and Olwethu. Olwethu’s grandmother had apparently given him R5 to buy vetkoeks but they were finished by the time he got there.
It was that money that eventually went towards buying the snacks.
“They were playing [at the neighbours] as there is a child around the same age there as well. At about 6pm, the neighbour told them to go home as it was getting late,” Khang related.
“Their sister was asked to go fetch them so they can be bathed for the evening, and when she returned with them, they playfully tried to outrun her around the yard to avoid taking a bath.”
The children eventually complied and settled for the night, but this calm was short-lived.
Katlego was the first one to complain about being in pain. It was a struggle to settle the little girl as she cried and said she felt like vomiting, the family said.
Khang took charge of the six-year-old to try to settle her, and this seemed to do the trick for a while. As Khang struggled to stay awake, Neo, who had fallen asleep with no issue next to his grandmother, started acting strange.
“I tried to get him to sleep properly because he was moving all over the bed but couldn’t. His eyeballs were rolling up their sockets, and he couldn’t speak but instead pointed to his chest when we asked what was wrong.
“I just lost all my strength and called my other daughter to assist with controlling the little boy. She too was scared, but after some pleading, she took Neo from the bed. As soon as she took him, he started convulsing and you could see the white in his eyes. This frightened my daughter and she handed him back to me,” she said.
The frantic grandmother rushed to the local pastor’s house just a street away to seek help and prayers for little Neo. After praying for him, it was suggested that he be taken to Zola Clinic for medical attention. A family member also had the foresight to bring Katlego along, and the two children were taken to the facility.
Upon arrival, the frantic family rushed to get the duo attended to, but when the doctor saw Neo, he pronounced him dead.
“He looked like a limp doll. Pink and yellow saliva was coming out of his mouth. That strengthened our suspicions that it was poison,” she said.
While the pained family sat waiting for police officers to arrive, they were told that the same officers had apparently rushed to Jabulani, where another child had died under suspicious circumstances. It was only when the docket was compiled that police connected the dots that the children were all from the same street.
The neighbour and pastor’s wife, Nikini Moropa, told of the devastation of trying to save Neo’s life after they were alerted to the family’s plight on Sunday night.
Moropa was the one who ran with a limp Neo in her arms into the clinic. Little did she know that the four-year-old was already dead.
“He was pink in the face with his tongue sticking out, he had changed beyond recognition. The stuff coming out of his mouth and nose was also pink, but I can’t be sure what it was. We’ll just have to wait for the postmortem,” she said.
This strange appearance gave Naledi residents the suspicion that the biscuits bought at the store were to blame as they were some of the last things the children all consumed.
One of the surviving children confirmed that they had bought biscuits from the shop.
Making things worse is the struggle facing the Khang family in trying to lay Neo to rest. The family appealed for financial assistance to help bury the young boy.
TimesLIVE Premium reached out to Olwethu’s family for comment, but a relative asked for “space” as they attended to their hospitalised child.
The Gauteng department of education released a statement confirming that the deceased boys were pupils at Kgauhelo and Karabo primary schools.
Gauteng police confirmed that they were investigating two inquest dockets.
“The cause of death is unknown at this stage pending postmortem results,” Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said.
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