Nearly 50 students of Mchebeko Skills Competency College were treated for suspected food poisoning at Tshilidzini Hospital on Tuesday. Luckily, no one died but two of them were in a stable but critical condition at the hospital at the time of going to press.

Mchebeko Skills Competancy is housed in Khumbe-Lwamomdo (Northern Training Trust) and it offers Home-Based Care and auxiliary nursing courses to community members from various parts of Limpopo.

One of the affected students, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she claims that one of the senior officials in the college instructed them not to speak to the media, said they enjoyed pap and chicken on Monday evening. "Most of us developed running stomachs and our stomachs were so painful that it was nearly unbearable. Things became worse when we went to class on Tuesday morning and everyone was complaining about stomach pains and running stomachs. Ambulances were called and we were taken to Tshilidzini Hospital for treatment. We are still baffled by the incident, but we are happy because no one died."

Another male affected student said: "The pain was so great that I even thought I was going to die. I cannot understand why it happened this way, but someone will have to account for this. Although we received some treatment, we are still taking some medication, but we still feel the pain."

When Mirror arrived at Tshilidzini Hospital, the affected students were queuing up at the Outpatient Department (OPD) while health workers were doing their best to have them assisted. The students refused to speak to the media about the incident.

Mirror again visited the institution later that day and observed a group of students going out to buy some bread. "We are afraid to eat the food again, because we don’t know what will happen. We don’t want to be seen speaking to the media because we fear victimization," said one of them, who also refused to give her name.

A lady who said she is a facilitator at the college, who also refused to give her name, refuted claims of the suspected contaminated food and said she was not interested in speaking to the media. "You people from the media are distorting facts and taking the whole thing out of proportion, but you will never get the information because we don’t want to appear in newspapers. I will never give you my name. Go and speak to those who are affected and they will tell you what happened."

The spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Development in Limpopo, Phuti Seloba, said on Tuesday that a high-level investigation about the incident has already started: "It is true that 49 students of the said institution were treated for stomach-related problems at Tshilidzini Hospital. Forty-seven of the students were treated and discharged, but two of them were admitted. Their condition is critical, but stable. I cannot confirm or deny food poisoning, but we are busy investigating to find out what exactly happened," said Seloba.