Families await 'official cause of deaths' of their six kids despite cops saying it's insecticide

Some of the families of the six children who died from suspected poisoning in Naledi, Soweto, say they were not informed of the cause of deaths.

This despite police providing an update on the investigation on Wednesday morning without revealing the results.

On Thursday morning, provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Tommy Mthombeni said carbamates – a class of insecticides usually found in agricultural chemicals – were found to be the cause of deaths.

"The pathologists confirmed that it is carbamates. It is a bait used to kill insects, but that does not rule out the possibility that halephirimi may have been used," said Mthombeni.

“It is common knowledge that in our residential places when we've got challenges with rats, in terms of insects, we use those of which one cannot overrule ... after we have applied it, highly probable, they [carbamates] may [have] at the end of the day [touched] some of the food. These issues remain there. “This is not to say someone is not going to be held criminally liable.”

Mthombeni said investigations were ongoing.

The group of friends died earlier this month.

Zinhle Masilela's mother, Lebogang, said they were still waiting for the official results.

"Yesterday [Wednesday], the police visited us and told us they were making progress in the investigations. They didn’t tell us about the results or what could have caused Zinhle's death. We are still waiting, praying for answers to ease our pain. What else can we do but wait? We can't do anything more," said Masilela.

Karabo Rampou's aunt, Mpho, said she heard about the carbamates in the news.

"They haven’t told us anything about the results. They visited us and informed us about the case, but they didn’t mention the results. We went to the mortuary last week, and they told us the cause of death was carbamate poisoning, but the police have not come to us with the official results," said Rampou.

Monica Sathege's father, Tiny, said the family is still in the dark about the cause of death.

"At this point, when we asked for updates, they [police] told us it was food poisoning, but they still haven't confirmed what type of food poisoning it is. They said they were still waiting for the results of the toxicology report and promised to call us and explain what happened to the children. For now, all we know is that the cause of death is food poisoning.

"They were here yesterday and said that once the investigation is complete, as it is an inquest, they will bring us the report and explain everything," he said.

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