MYSTERIOUS DEATH HITS DAY CARE

MBABANE – “If only we were present and she had died in our hands.” These were the words of the parents of Siphesihle Khoza, an 18- month -ld toddler who is said to have died under mysterious circumstances after she was rushed to hospital by her caretaker from a day care centre.

The day care is located at Nkwalini Zone Two and the incident happened on Saturday.
The toddler’s father, Thomas Khoza stated that their firstborn and only daughter died in hospital after she was rushed there by the owner of the day-care, *Nana.

Siphesihle is said to have choked after drinking water on Friday during the day.
Apparently, the choking was so bad such that she started vomiting.
Nana then administered first aid to the child and later crushed a painkiller and gave it to her.

According to Thomas, his daughter was asthmatic as per a diagnosis they got from the doctor after birth.
Siphesihle started attending the day care at the end of October last year. The father said they paid E100 monthly for the day care services.
When Thomas went to get his child in the evening after he had knocked off from work, he was informed that the minor had choked earlier on the day.

According to Thomas, Nana then asked that he should not take the child home with him as she wanted to monitor her overnight following the choking incident since she was more experienced with children.

He agreed and informed his wife that their daughter would be spending the night at the day-care centre and she did not have a problem with that arrangement.
Thomas was then advised not to see the child as she might cry for him when he left.

“If the child spends the night at the day-care centre, they charge an extra E50 and on the day she offered to stay with Siphesihle at no cost,” Thomas said.
On Saturday morning, the mother of the child went to the day-care centre to give her some food but Nana informed her that Siphesihle was asleep.

She was told that the minor had been fed some soft porridge and given a painkiller before she slept.
All the mother could do was just look at her ‘sleeping’ child and left for work without having any suspicions.

“The woman who looks after my daughter says she called her mother at around midday to inform her that Siphesihle was not feeling well but her phone was off. She later called medical emergency personnel through their 977 toll free line but they did not come immediately until she decided to board a kombi and take the child to hospital,” Thomas narrated.
When they got to Mbabane Government Hospital, they were apparently referred to different parts of the hospital without being attended to.

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