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We are nearing a month since 21 teenagers aged between 13 and 18 died under mysterious circumstances at Enyobeni tavern in Scenery Park, East London. 17 teenagers died on the scene, and four later died after being taken to hospital.

The tragedy drew national and international media attention, with much speculation surrounding the cause of death. Survivors told horror stories of being trapped inside and days after the incident, sources close to the investigation said carbon monoxide poisoning linked to the use of a petrol generator inside the venue appeared to be the likely cause.

That was soon dismissed by a senior official in the Eastern Cape department of health’s forensic pathology services but since then, official information has been all but non-existent.

On July 6, 19 empty coffins were displayed at a highly-publicised funeral and the families who lost loved ones are rapidly losing patience.

The news may have broken last week that the tavern owner and two staff had been arrested but that was short-lived. News24 reports:

Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana confirms to Drum that [owner] Siyakhangela is not in police custody though. “He was served with a summons, not detained,” he says…

The biggest point of frustration at present is the delay in the cause of death investigation.

Noluthando Nkani, whose daughter died inside the tavern, said, “the death certificates say ‘under investigation’ so we just want to know what killed them”.

Xolile Malangeni, another parent, says they know their children are not coming back, but they just want to get the truth…

Image: Malibongwe Dayimani / News24

“Government made promises about getting us to the bottom of what happened, but now it is just silent. The police are not communicating anything with us, we are just hearing things in the news… We were told the toxicology report would be available in two weeks, but now still nothing. We cannot even lodge claims because we do not have valid death certificates. We are seeing theories on social media but the people who should be giving us answers aren’t.”

Still, the wait goes on and some in the loop reckon we are looking at a matter of months, rather than days, before we hear anything concrete.

The tavern owner and the two staff are set to appear in court on August 19. The two staff members can opt to pay a fine of R2 000 to avoid their court appearance.

Tembile Sgqolana, a reporter for The Daily Maverick, spoke with CapeTalk’s Pippa Hudson about how these delays are affecting the community and grieving parents:

“The families are angry that they say that this is the first time in their life where someone could bury a child but not know the cause of death.

[There has still been] no comment. They are just saying that they are still busy investigating. ‘We are busy with the investigation’ – that has been the comment that we will get from the police [and] from the Department of Health, and you get nothing. It shows that we might spend some months not knowing what actually killed the teenagers there.”

It seems like a failure on the part of investigators that, with a tragic amount of evidence to work with, they are still unable to publicly state what led to these deaths.

Imagine the uproar if 21 teenagers died in a Claremont bar and we waited this long for the investigation to reach a conclusion?

Meanwhile, families remain in limbo and desperate for answers.

UPDATE: An update on investigations into the cause of death will be provided later today.

The Police Ministry, SAPS, Dept. of Health and Eastern Cape Provincial Government will provide an update on the death of 21 youths, who died at Enyobeni Tavern on 26 June 2022. The media briefing will be held today at the SAPS Cambridge Hall, East London at 14:00 #EnyobeniTavern

— Justice, Crime Prevention & Security Cluster (@CrimeSecurity) July 19, 2022

[sources:news24&capetalk]