A young couple from Soweto is seeking answers after their two-month-old baby died at a day care centre an hour after being dropped off.
The tragedy comes after the parents struggled to find childcare when the infant’s mother had to return to work two months after giving birth.
The couple had recently moved to Devland in Soweto but had been unable to find a babysitter. The child’s grandmother lives in KwaZulu-Natal and could not stay with them because they live in a small flat.
Thami Mbatha said he dropped off his son, Yamihle Mbatha, at Joy Injabulo Day Care in Freedom Park on January 21. About an hour later, he received a call from the principal asking him to return to the centre urgently, saying the child had stopped breathing.
Mbatha told Sowetan the call left him alarmed, as the principal sounded panicked and out of breath.
“I usually bottle-feed my son every morning before taking him to day care. About an hour later, I received a call saying something had happened and that my baby was not breathing,” he said.
Mbatha said when he arrived at the centre, he found Yamihle lying unresponsive on the floor, with discolouration around his lips and signs of bleeding from his nose.
“Because I was far [from the crèche], I first called my wife and told her what had happened. When I finally arrived, I could see from my child’s condition that he was no longer alive,” he said.
Mbatha said the principal, Nomathemba Ntuli, told him she had tried calling an ambulance but struggled to get through.
The pair then rushed Yamihle to Lilian Ngoyi Clinic in an Uber, but despite the medical staff’s efforts to resuscitate him, he was declared dead.
“The doctor asked us to sit down, as my wife had also arrived from work. She explained that the case would be treated as an inquest because the manner of death was questionable,” Mbatha said.
He said that doctors informed him that toxicology tests were being conducted, which suggested Yamihle may have ingested something poisonous.
When contacted by Sowetan, Ntuli said that shortly after Mbatha dropped Yamihle off, he appeared sleepy and was placed on a bed in her office.
She said she then went to a nearby Shoprite to collect items for the centre. When she returned around 9am, Yamihle had still not woken up.
“I usually feed the baby at 9.30. When I returned, I asked the teacher if he had woken up, and she said no. When I checked on him, I realised he was not breathing, although his body was still warm.”
Ntuli said that after speaking to Mbatha, the mother called her and was crying. A friend who was also on the call advised her to attempt resuscitation.
“I explained that I am not trained to perform CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] on an infant, as it could be dangerous, but she insisted. When I tried, milk came out of the baby’s nose, followed by blood,” Ntuli said.
“After I saw blood, I started praying because I saw what I was doing was not working and the child was not waking up. I was scared.
Ntuli said she does not know what could have happened to the infant. Mbatha claims Yamihle was given porridge at the crèche, but Ntuli said the boy did not eat anything on the premises.
Mbatha said the loss of Yamihle has left the family devastated.
“This has left us traumatised and depressed. The mother now sleeps with the lights on and is afraid to be alone in the house. She even chose to return to work because she relives the pain daily, especially since she teaches children,” he said.
Mbatha said all he wanted was to know what happened to Yamihle and was thinking of approaching private testing centres to fast-track the postmortem results.
Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Captain Tintswalo Sibeko confirmed that an inquest docket has been opened and that investigations are ongoing.
Sowetan
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