Namibia: Contaminated Porridge Claims 13 Lives

Thirteen people from a Kayova village smallholding in north-eastern Namibia have died after consuming porridge that is suspected to have been toxic.

According to reports, on Saturday, 27 May, a family of four different households from the Kavango region traded reeds for grains in order to prepare a meal for the desperately hungry clan.

The hastily prepared porridge of pearl millet flour was mixed with a dried pounded fermented sediment from a traditional, homemade beverage. By that evening, most had fallen ill after dinner.

Over the next three days, the family unit of 22 saw 13 members, mostly children, die while four others were admitted to a nearby hospital and remain in critical condition.

First Lady, Monica Geingos, has extended her condolences on the “devastating loss”, and has offered psycho-social support and counselling to the stricken family in a press statement on Tuesday evening, 30 May.

The relative who provided the grains is unsure how they could have caused the tragedy as he has done so for the past five years; samples of the deadly foodstuff have been sent for analysis in neighbouring South Africa.

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