Food poisoning not coming from school programmes – education minister

Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube says the recent poisoning of children was not from food served at schools.

Dozens of school-aged children have died or fallen ill due to food poisoning in recent months, with many reportedly traced to shops or local vendors in the area.

“The first thing we did as a department was to find out from the provinces if these incidents came from the national school nutrition programme because that is what we are responsible for.

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“We were able to ascertain that it was not coming from food that was being served at school, and so were not part of the school nutrition programme. In isolated incidents, learners bought food and snacks from local shops.

Task team started to investigate poisonings

In the last few days, she has been in contact with Health Minister Aaron Motsoledi to raise her concerns over the growing trend.

A task team including the National Institute For Communicable Diseases Of South Africa (NICD) has also been started, to further investigate the poisonings.

“In the meantime, we have also told our learners and parents that we need to be extra vigilant on what it bought and brought into schools.”

 About 150 pupils have been hospitalised in less than two months.

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Education and social justice activist Hendrick Makaneta told The Citizen the crisis needed urgent attention from government, including the department of education.

“We are expecting the matter to be investigated and the report to be made public so that those who will be found guilty can be held accountable,” said Makaneta.

South African National Association of School Governing Bodies general secretary Matakanye Matakanye also believes the department should do more.

“It is not the first school in the country to experience food poisoning incidents, but the government is not doing anything about it. We can’t stand and watch while our children are dying,” said Matakanye.

Additional reporting by Masoka Dube

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