NATIONAL NEWS - Parliament has called on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to speed up its investigation into the Enyobeni tavern deaths.
On Tuesday, Eastern Cape police and provincial Department of Health released the preliminary test results, with methanol, a toxic alcohol used industrially as a solvent, pesticide and alternative fuel source, being detected in the blood samples of the 21 teenagers who died at the tavern located in Scenery Park, East London on 26 June.
The blood samples were tested for alcohol and carbon monoxide poisoning, but the levels were not high enough to cause death, according to Eastern Cape’s deputy-director general for clinical services, Litha Matiwane.
While the provincial government ruled out a stampede as the cause of the deaths of the victims, their blood samples will receive further analysis by toxicologists in Cape Town as the preliminary results were not yet not conclusive.
‘Acceleration’
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities noted the update and called on the police to accelerate the investigation into the deaths.
In a statement, the committee’s chairperson Nonhlanhla Ncube-Ndaba said the victims’ parents were in need of some level of closure.
“Acceleration of the investigations and the disclosure of the real cause of the deaths of the 21 children in Enyobeni tavern will certainly translate into healing for the parents and relatives of the 21 children,” Ncube-Ndaba said on Wednesday.
Last week, the owner of the Enyobeni tavern was arrested along with two employees.
The arrest of the 52-year-old suspect and two employees followed a criminal complaint laid by the Eastern Cape Liquor Board (ECLB) at Scenery Park Police Station for contravention of the Liquor Act.
The ECLB laid the criminal complaint against the tavern owner for allegedly selling alcohol to minors.
The two tavern employees were each fined R2,000, while a summons was served to the owner for his immediate arrest and appearance in court on 19 August 2022.
