The tragic death of a six-year-old girl in a classroom at Mandlethu Primary School in Tsakani, Ekurhuleni, yesterday has left her family devastated and 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,” explains Mkhwanazi.

He says that when 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 adds.

Mkhwanazi says 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 explains.

The grieving father says he sat next to his daughter and the school’s 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,” says Mkhwanazi.

According to a statement released by the Gauteng Department of Education, emergency services were called.

Mkhwanazi says the ambulance 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,” says Mkhwanazi.

Four other children were admitted to Pholosong Hospital for observation the same day.

Three children are Mkhwanazi’s neighbours and the other is Refilwe’s little sister.

After hearing about 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 to test.

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.

Community confronts shop owner

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,” says Mkhwanazi.

A concerned parent, Fikile Nkosi, whose child is also a learner at Mandlethu Primary School, says 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 adds.

Nkosi also says 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 adds.

This 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 the child’s death.