Another group of children from a school in Mpumalanga were rushed to a clinic after falling ill due to food poisoning this week.
The incident happened on Wednesday at Babati Primary School in Justacia, near Bushbuckridge.
The 54 pupils allegedly fell ill after eating snacks and biscuits from some of their schoolmates.
This follows incidents in which children have either died, were hospitalised or treated for food poisoning across the country.
“Most of the children, who are in grades 6 and 7, presented with abdominal pains, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and headaches,” said the provincial health department spokesperson, Dumisane Malamule.
Malamule said the children started showing symptoms around 8am. He said all the pupils were transferred from a local clinic to Matikwana hospital, Mkhuhlu in an ambulance. “They were all in stable condition and were discharged,” he said
A teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they suspected products bought from foreign-owned tuck shops in the area were responsible for the
crisis.
“Officials from the health department came and took some samples of the snacks and other food suspected to be contaminated,” she said.
Mpumalanga education spokesperson Jasper Zwane confirmed that the department was informed that 11 learners of Babati were rushed to the clinic after complaining about stomach cramps.
Zwane said the department has learnt that of the 11 pupils, only one was reported to have vomited. The others did not show severe signs but were all referred by the clinic to the Matikwane Hospital for further observations.
It is alleged, according to Zwane, that the pupils fell sick after consuming snacks, noting that the allegations are a subject of an investigation.
“All the learners were treated and released yesterday except for one learner who was admitted. Today, the school is operational with effective teaching and learning although the attendance of learners was not satisfactory,” he said.
“The members of the school governing body were at the school this morning to monitor the situation.”
He added that the department was monitoring the developments and would deploy officials to render psychosocial support to the affected learners.
Meanwhile, this week the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) announced that more than 100 pupils across the country were
taken to clinics after allegedly consuming contaminated snacks and biscuits from spaza shops owned by foreign nationals. The cases exclude the Bushbuckridge incident.
“We call on parents to tell their children not to buy anything from spaza shops. Schools and school governing body representatives, please protect your children by educating them.
“Unfortunately, as an association, we don’t have the authority to inspect the shops operating near schools,” said NASGB chairperson Matakanye Matakanye, urging the government to act through its structures, particularly the local government and the police.
Investigations are ongoing to determine the actual cause of the deaths of the children.
The government responded by conducting a national inspection to check the legitimacy and quality of products sold at foreign-owned shops.
Indignant community members and members of Operation Dudula have inspected tuck shops in some areas in Gauteng and the Free State since the deaths of the children made headlines.
During a raid at some of the shops, expired food and other related items were found.
Spokesperson for Operation Dudula, Zandile Dabula, has lambasted the government for failing to inspect foreign-owned shops.
“We blame them because if authorities were inspecting the shops in the townships, incidents like these would have been prevented,” said Dabula.
In reaction, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said the governing party met with the shop owners to discuss the crisis.
“We met with the spaza shop owners to talk about the problem. We are planning to embark on a serious campaign to do away with illegal immigrants in the township owning shops,” Mbalula told the media.
