Eastern Cape health department withholds cause of death in teen tavern tragedy

The Eastern Cape health department on Thursday withheld details of the toxicology results of the Enyobeni tavern tragedy in anticipation of “legal processes that might follow”.

Families of the 21 young people who died at the Scenery Park tavern on June 26 were called to the health department’s district offices in West Bank, East London, for the release of the final report.  The media was barred from the meeting. 

Some parents were told the cause of death was suffocation as a result of overcrowding. Methanol poisoning has been ruled out. 

Provincial health spokesperson Siyanda Manana would neither confirm nor deny the claims by parents when he addressed the media on Thursday afternoon.

“The cause of death is a confidential document. We have sought a legal opinion over the matter and we were advised not to disclose the results [to the media].

“There is nothing sinister about that. The parents will receive the results,” Manana said.

He said parents were being offered counselling “as we brief them, individually, about the results”.

Khululekile Ncandana, whose son Bhongolwethu died in the tavern, confirmed that parents were “briefed one by one by the authorities”.

Nomawethu Mboyiya of Amalinda Forest, the mother of Sandanathi Mahlakahlaka, broke down when she briefed the media on what she had been told. “I was told by the doctor my child died as the result of suffocation. They told us that the cause of death of our children is not the same, but all the parents who were briefed about the results say it was suffocation.

“These people wasted our time.”

Another parent said: “We are not happy about the whole process. We are being taken for a ride here.”

The dean of law at Fort Hare university, Prof Mzukisi Njotini, said the parents of the victims had the right to challenge the department if they were not happy with the official explanation. 

“Parents have the right to legally force government to disclose the outcome of the investigation. This is what the government has promised South Africans and the world.

“The basic legal principle, relating to the notion of justice, says that justice must not only be done but it must be seen to be done. The legal framework in SA is vast. Of course, the parents can go to court and apply to force the government to provide them with the information via the Promotion of Access to Information Act.”

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