Metro responds to six-month-old baby’s death at Makhulong creche
Gadebe said an intervention plan is in place to address all the outstanding matters
The City of Ekurhuleni has refuted the allegations made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that the city has done nothing about the case of six-month-old baby Mosa Leago November who died in a crèche in Makhulong Section on January 24.
The City of Ekurhuleni’s spokesperson, Themba Gadebe, said the case was brought to the attention of the city on May 14, therefore they could not respond adequately to the narratives raised by the DA that points incontrovertibly in the direction that the City of Ekurhuleni is not doing anything about the case.
“At this point, the case was raised for response in the council sitting, there was only mention of Kopanong area without specific details of the address, hence we made consistent reference to the cases belonging to the City of Ekurhuleni and City of Johannesburg as we were only privy to those cases.
“More than anything, the pieces of information in the journalist’s statement has made us aware of a new case that requires further investigation. We take issues pertaining to children seriously,” added Gadebe. He further said the best interest of children is what characterised and drove their response to the case.
“In pursuit of social justice, we sought additional information from the media house in the location of the crèche in question and dispatched social workers on May 17 to the facility to investigate the matter thoroughly. An interview was held with the parents of the deceased child in question on May 18.
“All efforts will be made to assist the family to deal with the death and grief after the loss of the child. The family will be further supported to come to terms with the outcomes of the toxicology report,” explained Gadebe.
Gadebe said an intervention plan is in place to address all the outstanding matters relating to Step-by-Step ECD Centre.
“Relevant departments will be engaged to intervene accordingly, such as environmental health and the Department of Social Development to make recommendations on the future of ECD. We are committed to a vision of a city fit for children and will ensure the provision of high quality, accessible, sustainable, people-centred developmental services,” said Gadebe.
Services of the City of Ekurhuleni to unregistered crèches are as follows:
• Monitoring of the ECD facilities.
• Provision of funding for educational equipment and toys through Grant in Aid.
• Training and development of ECD practitioners without appropriate ECD qualifications.
• Issuing of health certificates ECD facilities.
• Infrastructure development through building centres of excellence.
• Registration with city planning for special consent.
• Engagement in workshops and information sessions to raise awareness and galvanise communities to enrol children under the age of six years into ECD programmes.
