At a school in Germiston, Amkelekile (Amu) Sibongile Mokoena choked to death on a grape that she ate in class and died. It was January 24, 2022, and Lovely Mokoena says she got a call on that day that was very scary. She found out that her daughter had been taken to the hospital because she had passed out in class.

I got a call from her father around 9:58am. He told me that he had just been told that Amu was unconscious and being taken to the hospital. I jumped out of bed and drove to the hospital right away. People from the police and some of the teachers were there when I got to the hospital We were told to wait for the doctor. I thought I would see my child when I got there. As soon as the doctor came, she asked me a lot of questions about my health. I didn’t understand because it felt like he was talking about a sick child.

She said the doctor then told her that her daughter died.

“I was in some kind of shock. I thought that wasn’t my child at first. Mokoena thought the school had mixed up the names because her child was so lively and full of life when she left for school that morning. “I was finally able to see her, and she had the hospital sheet over her body.” When I began to slowly pull the sheet away from her face, I could see her eyebrows. She didn’t have any eyebrows that could be seen at all. That’s when I had to believe it was her.

A forensic autopsy found that the child choked on a grape and had to be put to sleep. She says Amkelekile did have grapes packed for lunch that day. She heard that Amkelekile started vomiting after the first break at school. They asked Amkelekile if she was okay, and she told them.See the source image

They told her to go to class. They said she fell to the ground as she was putting her lunchbox in her bag. This is what they said. It was one of the students who saw Amu fall to the ground. The teacher was called. He said that they found her face down on the ground.
 

 

 

Why did the school not call us when the child was sick? I don’t know. They should have sent her to the sickbay and kept an eye on her from there, instead. Why did no one see her choke? Mokoena says she has sent the Department of Education a lot of emails, but they didn’t respond until after she talked about it.

Because the other students saw Amu fall, “it must have been very scary for them,” she said.Lovely Mokoena, seeking justice for her 6-year-old daughter after she died from choking on a grape at school. Photo supplied by Lovely Mokoena.

“But where did the supervision come from, then?” In this private school, they didn’t do their job very well at all. There is nothing anyone can do now to bring Amu back. I’m telling the story so that other students don’t have to go through the same thing. IOL tried to get in touch with the school, but it didn’t work.

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