Four Eqinisweni learners died by suicide in 10 days — all by the same cheap poison

Chronology of incidents at Eqinisweni Secondary School, Ivory Park, Gauteng · 26 April – 10 May 2024

40+

Gauteng schoolchildren died by suicide in 2023, per MEC Chiloane

1 : 30 000

Social worker to learner ratio in SA public schools

26 April 2024 — Friday

First death: Grade 10 girl

Incident 1A Grade 10 girl learner drank poison at home and was rushed to a nearby clinic, where she was declared dead. She was the first of four learners from the same school to die within ten days.

2 May 2024 — Thursday

Second death: Grade 11 girl

Incident 2A Grade 11 girl learner was found dead at home by her parents, having consumed poison. Six days had passed since the first incident.

3 May 2024 — Friday

Third death: Grade 11 boy

Incident 3A Grade 11 boy learner was hospitalised after consuming poison and died while receiving medical treatment — one day after the second incident.

5 May 2024 — Sunday

Fourth death: Grade 12 girl

Incident 4A Grade 12 girl learner passed away while being transported to a nearby clinic. All four deaths involved ingestion of Halephirimi, a poison sold for as little as R5–R10 at local spaza shops. No suicide notes were found in any of the four cases.

10 May 2024 — Friday

Government visits the school

ResponseBasic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and Gauteng MEC Matome Chiloane visited Eqinisweni Secondary School. The department's psycho-social support unit was deployed to provide counselling to learners, educators and families. The MEC confirmed four deaths on 6 May 2024 in an official media statement.

All four learners used the same poison — Halephirimi — freely available at spaza shops for pocket change, raising concerns about a cluster contagion effect. But no common trigger was found, leaving families without answers in a province where more than 40 schoolchildren died by suicide in the year before these deaths.