City Health alerted to suspected poisoning incident

14 January 2020

The City of Cape Town’s Health Department has been alerted to a case of suspected poisoning in Wetton on Monday 13 January 2020 that resulted in the hospitalisation of six people – five of whom are in a critical condition.

The South African Police Service is looking into the matter to establish the circumstances that led to this incident.

Once formal notification has been received as to the cause, the City’s Environmental Health Department will conduct further investigations.

This will cover a number of aspects including ascertaining what substance the victims ingested, tracing the source and other circumstances pertaining to the incident.

We do not want to speculate on the possible cause until blood tests or clinical samples have been completed and interviews with those affected have been conducted.

Investigations of this nature take some time to complete and so we ask the public and the media to bear with us.

It is in everyone’s best interests to allow the investigation to run its course so that we are ultimately able to provide concrete answers to the victims and their families, and advise on further action if need be to avoid a recurrence of this type of incident.

Issued by Zahid Badroodien, Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, City of Cape Town, 14 January 2020