One child dies, 3 siblings hospitalised after eating poisoned inkobe

A GRADE One pupil died while three of her siblings and mother are admitted at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo after they ate food suspected to have been poisoned.

The deceased, Lwandile Ncube (7), a pupil at Umguza Primary School and her siblings complained of stomach pains a few hours after eating inkobe, a traditional dish (mixture of roundnuts and maize) which their mother, Mrs Michelle Ncube, had prepared on an open fire at their outside cooking area in Emganwini suburb on Tuesday.

Lwandile died on admission at Mpilo Central Hospital on Wednesday morning after she had been discharged and readmitted to the institution twice in one night.

Family spokesperson Mr Felix Ncube, brother to Mr Nqobile Ncube, the deceased's father, said the family was still in shock following the incident.

"This is very difficult for us to take as a family. However, we hope that whoever had a hand in this will be brought to book by the police. They took food samples for tests and we are awaiting post-mortem results.

"Children eat inkobe all the time but we have never had such an incident. If it's somebody's doing, then that person deserves to be punished. We will not have peace until we know what transpired and who was behind it," said Mr Ncube.

The children's grandmother, Mrs Linda Banda, who spoke to The Chronicle at the funeral wake yesterday, said she did not expect her granddaughter to die as she looked better after they left the hospital for the first time at around 7PM.

"My own daughter cooked that dish for her children and then served it to them and herself. The older sibling who survived, Awakhiwe, ate very little of it as he said he wanted to have isitshwala for supper," Mrs Banda said.

She said they all started complaining of stomach cramps and were throwing up.

"My daughter then told me the children were not well and she called her husband who suggested that she take them to a clinic or 24-hour surgery nearby.

She took it lightly and thought they were just having running tummies and would be fine," Mrs Banda said.

"It got worse. They had started excreting bloody human waste. My son-in-law rushed the children to Mpilo Central Hospital where they were given oral rehydration solution salts".

She said Michelle was administered a drip and was admitted for the night. She, however, requested to go home as her children had been discharged and could not go home on their own.

Mrs Banda said they left the hospital as the children looked better but the situation deteriorated at around 3AM when Lwandile got worse.

"She said she was feeling cold and needed more blankets. We thought she had a fever and then she went to bed.

"At 4AM, when her aunt woke up to check her temperature, she realised that she was unconscious. She woke the parents and her father started crying right away," she said.

"Her body was cold from the waist downwards. They took all the children back to the hospital. Lwandile was rushed to Mpilo (Central) Hospital again at around 4:30AM where she was pronounced dead on arrival."

The other children are admitted in the Intensive Care Unit at the paediatric ward.

Mourners are gathered at the family's home at 6133 in Emganwini suburb.