Sukoluhle James' family seeks funds to bury her after she died of food poisoning.
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A heartbroken grandmother is pleading for financial assistance to bury her one-year-old granddaughter, who tragically died from suspected food poisoning after eating a packet of noodles.
Sukoluhle James died in the early hours of Tuesday, May 27, after falling ill during the night.
Her grandmother, Nomzamo Dlambula, described the devastating events leading up to the toddler’s death.
“It was around 1am when she passed on Tuesday,” Dlambula said.
“She ate the noodles for supper, and that was the last thing she ate, and then around 11pm, I was woken up by her; she was crying.
“When I asked her mother why she was crying, she said she didn’t know, and they came to my room.”
Dlambula said she immediately sensed something was wrong.
“I could see that she was not alright. We couldn’t even take her to the hospital as she had passed away. The post-mortem report said that it was food poisoning that killed her.”
According to Dlambula, her daughter had attended a birthday party earlier in the day and brought the noodles home from a friend’s cupboard.
“She got home and then made supper for her daughter. The friend said she bought the noodles from a shop in Wynberg. She said she also fed her children the same noodles, but nothing happened to them.
“I think maybe this was a factory fault, and we can’t focus on tracking down the company because we are struggling to put funds together to bury Sukoluhle, and we are not sure where to go.”
Dlambula said the family has been seeking help from their local councillor and other community members, but the process has been slow.
“We are stressing because my granddaughter’s body has been in the mortuary for more than a week and we thought by now we would have received help,” she added.
Anyone willing to assist the Dlambula family can contact Nomzamo Dlambula directly on 073 478 5715.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za