UPDATE: Child’s death sends shock waves through community
When paramedics arrived, they confirmed Refilwe was dead.
Tsakani- The death of a six-year-old girl in a classroom at Mandlethu Primary School on Tuesday caused unrest in the community.
What started as a normal day ended in a nightmare when Lucky Mkhwanazi walked his daughter, Refilwe Usman, to school.
“I usually give her money to buy snacks at school. I needed loose change, so we stopped at the corner shop to buy her younger sister some biscuits,” explained Mkhwanazi.
He said that once Refilwe saw the biscuits, she asked for her own packet.
“I bought them for her and went back to the house, leaving her to walk with her mother and our neighbour’s children,” he added.
Mkhwanazi said he was watching TV when he received a call from the school, informing him his child was ill.
“It was a little after 11:00 when I got to the school. They had already made a place for her on the classroom floor. She was barely moving. I could tell that she was weak,” he explained.
The grieving father said he sat next to his daughter and added that school staff tried to get help for her.
“I kept encouraging her to hold on. I told her the ambulance would come and take her to the hospital. I believe she could hear me because she would move her little fingers when I spoke. Eventually, she stopped moving,” he explained.
According to a statement released by the Gauteng Department of Education, emergency services were called.
Mkhwanazi said the ambulance only arrived just before 12:30.
When paramedics arrived, they confirmed that Refilwe was dead.
“I feel dead. I have lost my best friend. No one understood me like my daughter did. Even when I was sad, she would do something to make me laugh,” he said.
Four other children were admitted to Pholosong Hospital for observation on the same day.
Three children are Mkhwanazi’s neighbours and the other is Refilwe’s little sister.
After hearing of the incident, MMC for Economic Development and City Planning Nomadlozi Nkosi and her entourage visited the school and the shop.
Inspectors from the city’s health and social development took samples from the shop that will be tested.
The shop owner was operating without a Certificate of Acceptability (COA).
A COA is issued by the Environmental Health Division after a practitioner has inspected the premises and is satisfied that it complies with the national regulations governing general hygiene requirements for food premises, the transportation of food, and related matters.
When night fell, some community members confronted the shop owner.
The shop was looted, and some goods set alight in the middle of the street.
“I am appealing to the community to wait for the postmortem results before acting. People are doing bad things in my child’s name. I do not condone this behaviour,” said Mkhwanazi.
A concerned parent, Fikile Nkosi, whose child is also a learner at Mandlethu Primary School, said the community needs to stop playing the blame game.
“We don’t know what caused the girl’s death. We all need to wait for the results to tell us if she was poisoned. People are using this incident to camouflage their criminal behaviour,” she said.
Nkosi also said every parent should take precautions to protect their children.
“I bring my child lunch every day because I don’t feel comfortable with them buying snacks. Our children are traumatised. They are scared to come to school now,” she added.
On Wednesday morning, learners from Tsakani took to the streets and vowed to shut down all foreign-owned shops in the area.
The GDE’s Psycho-Social Support Unit is committed to providing trauma support and counselling to all affected individuals.
“We are deeply saddened by this unfortunate incident. We plead with parents to be vigilant concerning the edible goods that their children consume.
“We call upon law enforcement agencies and municipalities to be more stringent on compliance related to spaza shop products. We extend our sincerest condolences to the family and the school community,” said MEC of Education Matome Chiloane.
The police are investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident.
Also read: Grade One Tsakani learner dies in another suspected food poisoning incident
