Parents call for school feeding scheme to stop after 110 pupils fell ill from suspected food poisoning

Angry parents at Tamaho Primary School in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, want the school nutrition programme to be stopped after 110 pupils were rushed to hospital on Wednesday after eating samp and beans.

The parents gathered at the school on Thursday and demanded answers.

Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona on Wednesday said 98 children were discharged while the others remained hospitalised.

When the Sowetan team arrived at the school on Thursday, a pupil was seen walking out, holding his tummy.

His mother said they came back from the hospital at 1am on Thursday and they are shocked that the child is having stomach cramps again.

“He left [the school] in an ambulance yesterday [and was taken] to Nigel Hospital and when [he] came back, he slept well after being assessed by the nurses. He woke up and didn’t say that he had cramps and we took him to school and I was called by the teachers that my child is sick again. I am taking him back to the clinic now,” said Nobuhle Bhongoza.

Parents are demanding that the school nutrition programme to be cancelled until there is proper proof that it was not the school food that led to the hospitalisation of their children.

Nosolomzi Mqambeli, the mother of a grade 4 pupil who also fell ill said: 

“Yesterday I saw a lot of ambulances at the school and that’s when I found out that children were sick and rushed to hospital. When we came back, I asked my daughter what she ate and she showed me the money I gave her in the morning, saying, 'mama I only ate samp from the school and my stomach started getting hot’,” she said.

On Wednesday, Sowetan reported that 12 children had died due to food poisoning in a month with many of the deaths reported in Gauteng.

The children died between October 6 and November 3.

In the latest incidents in Ekurhuleni, three children – Xaba siblings Owami and Hope – and Lwethu Sikonde, died on October 30 and November 3, respectively.

Thabisile Xaba said her grandchildren had been sick since last week Monday following a case of suspected poisoning at Sonqoba Primary School, also in Katlehong.

Mabona said the department in partnership with provincial health were actively monitoring the situation and will provide additional information as the investigation proceeds.

He said they remain committed to ensuring a safe and healthy environment for all learners and will provide psychosocial support to the affected learners, families and the school community.

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