Without a birth certificate and an ID, the Khang family faces an uphill battle as they begin arrangements to bury their 4-year-old grandson, Neo Khang, who died on Sunday, after allegedly eating poisonous biscuits bought from a local spaza shop.
The chilling revelations were made by Neo’s 70- year-old gogo, Matota Khang, who pleaded for help while speaking to the media following the tragic passing of their grandson (Neo Khang) and the hospitalisation of their second grandson, Katleho Mbatha, Neo’s 4-year-old cousin, after eating the poisonous pink cookies.
Two other children ate the same product on Sunday with another 6-year-old, Leon Jele, having also succumbed to the poisonous cakes believed to be behind the ordeal.
Reports indicate that another child is fighting for his life at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
While narrating the last moments with her grandson, Gogo Khang pleaded for help, saying the family is in need of assistance to ensure a decent send-off after this calamity.
She said even though she was born in South Africa and lived in Lesotho for years, she has struggled to obtain the relevant documents to be recognised by government. She said even her grandson does not have a birth certificate.
“I am the one who takes care of the children as the mother stays with the employers. It has been difficult to get an ID as I, too, do not have one. That is why I am pleading for help... I am seeking help for my children because I have nothing. I do not have an ID and my grandson also does not have a birth certificate. Even the children have nothing,” she said.
This was confirmed by the neighbour, Nikini Marupa, who said the situation will be complicated by lack of official documents to process the funeral arrangements.
“We have a big problem right now because both the grandmother and the child did not have IDs when this whole thing happened. It will be very difficult to make funeral arrangements. The family situation is not that good. The family does need help,” she said.
Sello Marupa, who has been with the family since the tragedy, told The Star that efforts to get gogo registered with Home Affairs have not yielded any positive results.
“Like she said yesterday, the situation is bad. She is asking that she be assisted with the burial and as a community and a church, we have tried to get her an ID, even her children and her grandchildren do not have official documents. We have tried to assist, but we have not been successful in this regard,” Ntate Sello said.
Gogo Khang said that while she awaits the finalisation of tests to determine the real cause of death, she was having a difficult time thinking about what is going to happen now that the funeral needs to be arranged.
“We are still awaiting the finalisation of the post-mortem and the case. At this stage, we suspect that the children who were given R5 by one of the neighbours had intended to buy fat cakes, but when they were told that the fat cakes were finished, they then bought biscuits and after an hour or so, the children started vomiting and complaining of chest pains,” gogo Khang said.