Baby 'bitten by rat' dies

By Sinegugu Ndlovu & Phili Mjoli

An inquest had been opened into the death of a four-month-old baby who died on Saturday after he was bitten on the head by a rat.

Nkosi Cwaka, who lived with his parents at the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban, was bitten on Friday but died on Saturday because his parents could not afford to take him to a doctor or to the local clinic, which closes at weekends.

Ntombikayise Mzobe, 22, Nkosi's mother, said she and the baby had been taking a nap when she was woken up by the child's cries. She said she had seen a huge rat bite into Nkosi's head and took the child into her arms, but the rat would not let go. "The rat eventually let go and my child's head and right arm were bleeding from the bites. We were waiting for the clinic to open on Monday, but Nkosi died on Saturday," she said.

S'bu Zikode, president of the shack-dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, said although Nkosi's death was the first to have resulted from a rat bite, shack dwellers had often reported being bitten by rats.

He said shack dwellers had been complaining to the city about the problem, but their concerns fell on deaf ears.

"Shack dwellers and our children are not looked after. Rubbish is not removed, which provides a breeding ground for these rodents.," said Zikode.

The eThekwini health department's Urmila Sankar said rats were a problem across the city.

"The main problem is prevention. Our prevention capacity is limited because we can't set rat and poison traps in residential areas because people could get injured or poisoned. We have clean-up campaigns for informal settlements, but people don't keep up the level of cleanliness," she said.

Sankar added that her department would visit the Kennedy Road informal settlement and reinforce the clean-up campaign.

Police Dir Phindile Radebe said an inquest docket had been opened.

• This article was originally published on page 3 of The Mercury on January 29, 2008