About 150 school children were hospitalised with suspected food poisoning after attending an event at the Dome in Randburg on Thursday, education authorities said.
”We understand from the emergency services that most of them are safe,” spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi said in the afternoon.
The first group of children started complaining shortly after noon of nausea, dizziness, headaches, stomach cramps and shortness of breath, he said.
They had all been attending an event at the Dome since the morning.
”We suspect they must have eaten something that was not right,” Lesufi said.
The children, mostly matriculants, were ferried to different hospitals and clinics in the Randburg area.
Lesufi said a joint team made up of officials from the departments of health and education was dispatched to the area to determine the cause of the children’s illness.
”The MEC [Angie Motshekga] was taken aback by the news, and has given an instruction for no stone to be left unturned to get to the bottom of this matter.” — Sapa