RUNDU – Seven people have been reported dead after eating dinner at a homestead in Ndiyona constituency’s Kayova village, the food was consumed on Saturday and the first two deaths were recorded in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

On Sunday afternoon, the suspected food poisoning victims were transferred to Rundu intermediate hospital for better healthcare.

“People are suffering here due to drought and they went to work to cut reeds for someone and they were paid with the traditional brew mahangu residue which they went to pound and made flour and cooked a meal which 18 people consumed and they later started reacting to what they ate,” said Ndiyona councillor, Laurentius Mukoya.

The traditional brew known as ‘Mundevere’ is made from a combination of mahangu, water and sugar.

“We are waiting for postmortem results to determine whether we are dealing with a case of food poisoning or not. These people are all from one homestead and some of the deceased are school going children,” said Mukoya, who has blamed the drought for the hunger in his constituency. 

They were rushed to Nyangana district hospital where two died and one seemed better and was discharged but was later brought back on Sunday.

The rest were on Sunday afternoon transferred to Rundu intermediate hospital where five of them later died and the remaining 11 said to be still hospitalised and critical while few are said to be stable. 

The Namibian Police who went to investigate what transpired could not give a briefing of any findings by the time of going to print. 

“Our members were deployed to go investigate what transpired at the village and they are still there and have not given feedback,” said the head of crime investigations in Kavango East, Bonifatius Kanyetu.

Caption: (Brew 1) Deadly… Some of the food the victims left over during dinner.