The recent deaths of three children from Katlehong, southeast of Johannesburg, after allegedly consuming food items they bought from vendors outside school and spaza shops, has sparked a call for vendors who are selling outside schools to be banned.
The sister of Lwethu Sikonde, 10, who died after allegedly drinking juice he bought from a vendor outside Kwanele Primary School in Palm Ridge, has called for vendors selling outside schools to be closed down.
Boitumelo Sikonde, 24, said schools should open tuck shops inside the yard where children can buy snacks. Should there be any complications, they can easily trace the source.
“You cannot stop children from buying. Even though you don't give them money some parents will,” she said.
Three children died in Ekurhuleni last week, two on Wednesday and one on Sunday morning, after allegedly eating chips they bought at spaza shops and juice from a vendor.
Boitumelo said her younger sibling went to school on Thursday, but when she returned from work, she found him asleep in bed.
He told his sister he had a runny tummy and he had drank milk at school. It was only later that they found out from his friend that Lwethu had also bought a juice and felt ill after drinking it.
She said her mother woke up on Friday to prepare him for school, but he said he wasn't going. Her mother said Lwethu had a runny tummy the entire night and he wasn't feeling well.
Later in the morning, they took him to the clinic and he was given pills, but after taking them he couldn't sleep properly and experienced stomach cramps, she said.
She said each day he grew weaker.
“While he was asleep, he was sweating and his blanket was wet even though he wasn't wearing anything,” she said.
When she left for work on Saturday, she gave her mother money and asked her to take him to the hospital should his condition deteriorate.
At about 1am, her mother called to say the child was worse and that she should arrange for transport to the clinic.
However, he died in the early hours of Sunday morning.
She said her brother was a humble and respectful boy who was focused on his school work and wanted to be a police officer.
“How many cases [of food poisoning] have happened before this one? How many children have died of food poisoning? It is a pity we only realised late that [it was a bigger problem],” she said.
About 5km away, there is another grieving family that lost two children a few hours apart on Wednesday.
Thabisile Xaba, 57, the grandmother of two siblings — nine-year-old Hope and six-year old Owami Xaba — who attended Sonqoba Primary School in Katlehong, said she didn't know if the children died from the drink and chips they bought from the spaza shop, or if it was what they ate at school.
“I can't blame anyone because I don't know what caused their deaths,” she said.
She said Owami started feeling sick on Monday and when she arrived home she found him sleeping. His mother said he was in pain. She said her grandchildren then started complaining about diarrhoea.
She said on Wednesday their mother gave them money to buy chips at the spaza shop. They returned after buying two drink-o-pops.
Later that day the children's mother realised there was something wrong with the children. She had tried to awaken them, but they did not respond.
She called a neighbour for assistance, but when she checked the children, they had passed away.
The family called an ambulance and the emergency personnel declared them dead and called the police who asked the mother if she had also drunk the drink-o-pop and she indicated that she had not.
She said the bodies of the children were taken away about 3am.
“I loved these children very much. I will remember that they wouldn't go to school before they saw me. Whatever they needed they would come to me and say, ‘gogo what do you have for us?’”
She added that her daughter was struggling since the death of her children and wasn't eating.
Gauteng acting premier and MEC for roads and transport Kedibone Diale-Tlabela and MEC for finance and economic development Lebogang Maile visited the two families on Tuesday.
Diale-Tlabela said the department of health in the province conducted an investigation on the school's nutrition programme and the results were negative, indicating that it was not the school food.
“It is alleged that children went to different spaza shops to buy different things. The allegations are these children are buying from these spaza shops,” she said.
She said something needed to be done about the deaths of children from food poisoning in the province.
“You have seen different government departments participating trying to investigate what is killing our children.”
She said the MECs for finance and economic development, health and education were involved in the investigation.
“This is a societal challenge, and as communities and government we need to work together and make sure that we deal with the challenge,” she added.
She said the provincial government needed to investigate whether it was what they ate, or what was happening in the shops where they bought the items.
“We are encouraging our children to abscond from buying these snacks. There is no health benefit and more than anything we are losing them from these snacks.
“We will give communities feedback [on investigations]. These children are eating different things at different points. What we know is that they bought them from spaza shops. What is that they ate and who produces this?” she asked.
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