Probe to find arsenic poison source

Mystery surrounds who is responsible for poisoning residents with arsenic and the death of scores of livestock after they ate contaminated food that was illegally dumped last month in Umbogintwini.

Huge sacks of rice, maize and beans that contained the deadly poison were buried at a dump site on the banks of the Umbogintwini River. Who is directly responsible for dumping the contaminated food is not clear at this stage of the investigation.

An investigation into the poisoning was undertaken by Zakhona Mzelemu after residents approached Toti SPCA for assistance. She informed the department of agriculture and samples of the food and dead animals were sent to the University of Veterinary Science for testing. They tested positive for arsenic.

The manager of the dump site identified the owner of the truck responsible for dumping the food stuff.
The owner of the truck, a Mr Manvri said Babs Singh had hired the truck and driver from his company, Babs Cartage to dump the food.
However, Singh denied any knowledge of the dumping. “The company should have dumped it legally,” said Babs. “I take on jobs and get quotes to dump. The driver was supposed to pay to dump the load legally. He or the owner of the truck could have pocketed the money and dump the load illegally. The beans and rice were not contaminated when they picked it up.”

Manvri denied dumping the contaminated food in Umbogintwini.

Scores of residents fell ill after consuming the food. One of the residents, Thobekile Phahla woke up on Saturday, 2 April with sores in her mouth after eating some of the rice the day before. She said they noticed the maize had ‘pink stuff’ on it and the rice was mouldy and differently coloured, but some of it was white.

“We thought it was okay to eat,” she said. “There are a lot of poor people in Umbogintwini and sometimes we have no food to eat.”

Thobekile was given medicine to gargle to treat her mouth sores, but was still suffering the effects of the poison six days later when the Sun spoke to her.

Four cows and 13 goats belonging to community members died immediately after consuming the poisoned food where it had been dumped. They said some of their goats were buried at the site in an attempt to cover up the poisoning. When the Sun visited the site on Thursday morning, 7 April, two decomposing goats were in plain sight and according to residents, many were buried under the rubble.

“One of my goats died on the way home and another died in my arms,” said Thobekile. “It was bleeding from the nose and its tummy swelled up as I watched. When we cut open its tummy, it was like something was boiling inside.”

The loss of livestock is a major blow to the impoverished residents, many of whom rely on their animals as a source of income.

Nkosinathi Madlala was hardest hit – he lost 26 goats, 30 calves and seven cows. “One goat costs R1,500, but these were a special breed that cost me R4,500 each,” he said. With a calf costing R4,000 and a cow R7,000, Madlala lost a small fortune to the poisoning and understandably wants to be compensated for his financial loss.

The department of health interviewed the affected residents and will lay charges against the company responsible for the dumping, while Metro Police will lay a charge of illegal dumping once it is established who is responsible.

Residents were informed by police they need to compile a joint statement with KwaMakhutha SAPS to lay a civil claim for financial compensation.