Five learners from Kgololosego Primary School in Ventersdorp, North West Province, were rushed to a local medical facility after consuming sherberts bought from hawkers near their school during break time last week. It is alleged that the five learners bought sherberts from one of the hawkers during break time at 10:15am and started vomiting and feeling dizzy a few minutes later.
The children admitted to Ventersdorp Hospital after the incident. Andries Thateng, a father of a 14-year-old Grade 7 learner, said he only received a call from the school at around 1:30pm, where he was told about the incident, and that his child was among those admitted to the hospital.
"When I rushed to the hospital, the doctors were still busy with my child and the other learners. I then drove to the school, where I found those hawkers still selling food items to other learners. "My child was discharged with the other children on Friday, but he was now back in the hospital again after being re-admitted on Saturday," said Thateng.
Another Grade 7 learner is still in the hospital, while four others were discharged on the same Friday. The incident raised more concerns from the community of Ventersdorp, where the Greater Ventersdorp Taxi Association members" took the law into their own hands" by closing some of the foreign-owned shops where it was alleged that the goods sold to learners at school were bought from them.
They said something needed to be done to ensure that children and community members are protected from dangerous food stuffs, and they are also seeking answers from health authorities to help resolve issues of monitoring food sold and consumed by communities.
Spokesperson from the Department of Education in the North West Province, Mphata Molokwane, said it was the first incident in Ventersdorp where they encountered children eating what would be poisonous food as a department in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District.
He indicated that it is not conclusive that it is the only one in the whole province, as some areas could not have been reported. "All five affected learners at Kgololosego Primary are in grade 7 (four boys and one girl). Some were fully recovered and released after observation on Friday, October 20. "The allegations of the death of three learners and two being in critical condition in Potchefstroom from Kgololosego Primary, are untrue. Thus, it is pure lies and sensation," he said.
This incident happened when South Africans were concerned about expired goods consumed at spaza shops owned by foreign nationals and demanded the immediate closure of all foreign-owned shops. The latest incident was reported three weeks ago, where one learner died. At the same time, another was in a critical condition in the hospital after allegedly consuming biscuits bought from a local spaza shop in Tshepisong, west of Johannesburg.
It is alleged that the two Grade 3 learners from Onkgopotse Tiro Primary School complained of stomach cramps in class and were rushed to the local clinic. Earlier this month, two boys died at a clinic in Naledi, Soweto, after they allegedly ate biscuits bought from a tuck shop, while two children aged three and four, also died in Vredefort, in Free State, after eating snacks purchased from a spaza shop.
