Mamelodi crèche closed down with immediate effect
The Department of Social Development confirmed that 28 children have been removed from the Malerato Centre for Hope because of the incident in which a child-minder allegedly poisoned them.
A total of 28 children were moved from the Malerato Centre for Hope crèche and orphanage to the Mamelodi SOS children’s village by the department of Social Development on Monday evening. The créche was closed down with immediate effect.
This comes after 16 toddlers were taken to different hospitals after their food was allegedly poisoned by a child-minder at the centre. The department found out that the Malerato Centre had also been taking care of unregistered children and was itself unregistered.
The department head, Shoki Tshabalala, confirmed that 28 children had been removed from the crèche after a staff member put aloe vera extract in their food, making the 16 toddlers sick. “The department was aware of eight orphans living at Malerato, but officials were surprised to discover that the founder of the centre, Dikeledi Jacobs, was also running a crèche, bakery, tuck shop and recruitment agency at the centre,” said Tshabalala.
“Dikeledi Jacobs could not explain how the children were allegedly poisoned, as said many activities took place at the centre,” said Tshabalala. “The eight orphans were not among those who became sick, but they were also moved to the SOS centre. For the sake of the children’s health, the Department of Social Development also dispatched a team of doctors to the hospital to help with the assessment of all the children from the crèche,” said Tshabalala.
The spokesperson of the Gauteng Health department, Simon Zwane, said that the department was busy with the investigation regarding the outbreak at Malerato.
“We are in constant contact with the Mamelodi, Steve Biko Academic and Dr George Mukhari hospitals regarding the test results. Two children are still at the Dr George Mukhari Hospital in a stable condition, while the others have been discharged.”
“The court case against the child-minder who was arrested for allegedly poisoning the children’s food was dropped due to insufficient evidence. She was released from jail on Monday, but police are conducting further investigations. We are still awaiting lab results of the alleged poison,” said Warrant Office Mike Mbewe.
Also read:
