74 Carletonville Grade 12 Learners Admitted to Hospital Over Suspected Food Poisoning, SA Enraged

• 74 matriculants from Carletonville in the West Rand have been rushed to hospital on 10 October 2024 for suspected food poisoning
• The learners were from Badirile Secondary School, Fochville Secondary School and Wedela Technical School
• This was the third incident in one week of children being hospitalised from suspected food poisoning, and South Africans were livid

Tebogo Mokwena, a dedicated Briefly News current affairs journalist, contributed coverage of international and local social issues like health, corruption, education, unemployment, labour, service delivery protests and heritage in South Africa during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

WEST RAND — Another incident that left scores of children in hospital over suspected food poisoning riled South Africans up, with many pointing fingers at the government.

74 Children admitted

The Gauteng Department of Health confirmed that 74 Grade 12 learners from various schools in the West Rand were rushed to the hospital on 10 October 2024. They all exhibited symptoms of suspected food poisoning.

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The learners were from Badirile Secondary School, Fochville Secondary School and Widely Technical School. They are receiving treatments in several hospitals in Carletonville. This incident follows a similar incident that took place in Malamulele, Limpopo, where 35 children were hospitalised on 9 October.

The incident marks the third similar incident in less than two weeks. Earlier this week, five children in Naledi, Soweto, died after allegedly eating snacks bought from foreign-owned spaza shops. Their death sparked widespread looting in the township.

Netizens angry

South Africans on Facebook were seeing red.

Tsheption Makoloi said:

"We don't have a government in South Africa."

Dumisani Kafuze Ngcobo asked:

"Why do we still have these spaza shops?"

Ro Ana said:

"They want to finish us and the government is saying nothing."

Phillip Phill Cool Mosiapoa said:

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"Some of the food suppliers are buying fake and expired food from foreign-owned spaza shops."

Grace Rsa said:

"Ramaphosa, wake up. Someone is killing our young ones."

ATM slams government

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the African Transformation Movement slammed the government and accused it of not implementing food safety regulations.

The party's criticism followed the death of five children in Naledi in Soweto, which also sparked lootings in the area. The ATM urged the government to be stricter in implementing food safety regulations.

Source: Briefly News