Anger, Tears in South Africa After 21 Teens Likely Accidentally Poisoned in Pub

Forensic personnel investigate after the deaths of patrons found inside the Enyobeni Tavern, in Scenery Park, outside East London in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, on June 26, 2022. (Stringer/Reuters)

EAST LONDON, South Africa—South African mourners expressed anger and despair on June 27 at the deaths of 21 teenagers in a tavern over the weekend, as investigating authorities said the youths were probably accidentally poisoned by something they ate, drank, or smoked.

The still unexplained deaths of the teens, some of whom were celebrating the end of school exams and others a birthday party, have brought an outpouring of grief and shocked a nation accustomed to injuries linked to a binge-drinking culture. Authorities ruled out an earlier-touted notion of a stampede.

Residents of Scenery Park, on the edge of East London, said they had asked authorities to close Enyobeni Tavern down weeks ago because it was serving underage kids.

The tavern’s license was revoked on June 27.

At a prayer meeting at a local church, mourners and priests sang, prayed, drummed on hymn books, and cried over the loss of the youngsters.

“I’m so devastated. We are so angry,” Maxhabiso Sibotoboto, 50, whose 17-year-old granddaughter, Monelo, was among the dead, told Reuters by phone from a church memorial service for them.

“People were complaining about the tavern. No one was happy about it. The community wanted the tavern to be shut,” he said.

Monelo didn’t live with her parents because her father had died and her mother worked a long way from home, he said.

Pictures circulating on social media, still unverified by authorities, showed the bodies of youths lying scattered across the floor of the tavern, some also seen motionless on tables and couches.

“We are so heartbroken, guys. We lost one of our family members, a child who was doing grade 12 [final year] this year. We can’t accept it,” said Yandiswa Ngqoza, an aunt, as she choked back tears outside the morgue dressed in black attire.

“By the look of the child, she has no visible injuries,” Ngqoza said, before breaking down sobbing. Minutes earlier, she had entered the morgue and identified her niece, whose name she didn’t disclose.

“Poisoning”

Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana told Reuters that the youngest victim was a 13-year-old girl.

An emotional Police Minister Bheki Cele had to pause speaking as he started weeping on June 26, triggering cries among his audience outside a morgue.

“It is either something they ingested which will point to poisoning, whether its food or drinks, or it is something they inhaled,” Unathi Binqose, spokesperson for Eastern Cape’s provincial community safety department said by phone on June 27, ahead of a toxicology report still awaited. He said hookah pipes were visible in CCTV footage of the scene.

“We are ruling out a stampede,” he said, after initial media reports suggested that may have been the cause.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on June 26 that he was worried about the circumstances under which young people, at least some under 18, were allowed to gather at the tavern. It is illegal to serve drinks to under-18s in South Africa.