Mom blames crèche for baby’s death
Falicia Ndoovu holdin a picture of her 7 Month old Mpendulo Ndoovu who recently died at his playschool whiles she was at work. ( Flicia did not want to be indentified.) Picture: Mujahid Safodien 06 06 2012 Falicia Ndoovu holdin a picture of her 7 Month old Mpendulo Ndoovu who recently died at his playschool whiles she was at work. ( Flicia did not want to be indentified.) Picture: Mujahid Safodien 06 06 2012
Police are investigating the death of a seven-month-old child at a crèche in Joburg’s CBD, with the mother placing the blame on the institution.
Time seems to have stopped for the family in a small flat on Anderson Street as they mourn the death of their son.
Felicia Ndlovu, 24, had been taking her child to the Grow Up and Learn crèche for the past two months.
Last Wednesday, her son Mpendulo died.
The child was buried on Tuesday in Soweto and the family are awaiting the results of a post-mortem.
Currently, the death certificate reads “under investigation”.
Grow Up and Learn has been operating for 12 years. It has about 48 children – some on a more regular basis than others – and there are five teachers.
According to Nomvula Kgomongoe, the teacher who attended to the child on that fateful day, the child’s father dropped him off in the morning with a bag of medicine. Kgomongoe said she was aware the child had been sickly for the previous four weeks. The principal, Pauline Khoza, also confirmed the school had been aware of the child’s illness.
Ndlovu told The Star her son had suffered from flu and an infection, but was recovering by last Wednesday.
After breakfast and a nappy change, Kgomongoe said she had put all the babies down for their nap. She did not interact with Mpendulo again until it was time to give him lunch several hours later. That was when she knew something was wrong. “His eyes were not fine,” she said.
She said she tried to feed him porridge and give him warm water, but nothing was working. She called Khoza, who advised her to take the child to a nearby doctor.
Khoza said it was difficult to get hold of Ndlovu because of miscommunications with receptionists at her work office. And she said she could not reach Ndlovu’s cellphone.
She did reach Mpendulo’s father, however, and said she had told him to go straight to the doctor’s surgery.
Kgomongoe said that when the doctor saw the baby, some time after 2pm, he recommended calling the emergency services.
The doctor then started to check for vital signs, she said. By the time Khoza arrived, the child was dead.
Contradicting what Kgomongoe and Khoza told The Star, Tselane Jiki, who works at the school, said Ndlovu had never filed medication reports for her son, and the school did not know the child was sick. “The child never passed away here at the crèche,” she added.
Ndlovu said that when her husband arrived at the clinic, the baby was dead and police had taken the child to a mortuary. When he asked the doctor what had happened, the doctor told him the child was dead on arrival.
Dr Makita, who attended to the child that day, also told The Star that the child was dead on arrival at the clinic at 160 Marshall Street.
Ndlovu claims the school continues to change its story. “They have been telling us different stories, so we don’t know which is which.”
A case was opened at Johannesburg central police station, and police are investigating.
anna.bisaro@inl.co.za
The Star