Mom, kids found dead in pit toilet

DAYS after an elderly woman and her great-grandchild were murdered in Elliotdale, Ndevana village near King William’s Town has been shocked by the murder of a mother and her two children.

The bodies were discovered by neighbours on Wednesday. They had been dumped in two pit toilets less then 20m from their home.

The bodies had many stab wounds and were wrapped in blood-soaked blankets.

Villagers say they now fear for their lives.

“This incident had really shocked us, and now we are afraid that whoever did this will come back to kill again,” said Zintle Ndamane.

Mcebisi Mbawule, who discovered the bodies of the children, said he was still trying to come to terms with what he had seen.

“I have never seen something like this; it was very bad.”

Mbawule said it was just after 1pm on Wednesday when he went to the toilet.

“There was an unbearable smell. I thought a dead dog had been dumped in the pit so I looked inside.

“I noticed a blanket which I took out and then I saw the body of the five-year-old child.”

Mbawule told his mother, who advised him to report the matter to Ndevana police station.

“We discovered the body of the infant in the same toilet,” he said.

While the police were on the scene another neighbour, Luvuyo Kelenjani decided to check his toilet. “I saw a blanket and blood stains on the seat and then alerted the police,” he said.

Kelenjani said they found the body of the mother. “Her hands and feet had been tied with wire,” said Kelenjani.

The mother, in her 40s, and her children – one five years and the other four months – lived alone in a shack.

According to neighbours the family is originally from Matatiele.

Last week, Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana went to the home of the elderly woman and her great-grandchild who were killed in Elliotdale.

The grandmother and the great-grandchild were found dead with stab wounds at their home in Kwenxurha village, Elliotdale.

Xingwana blamed drug abuse and witchcraft as the reasons rapists targeted older women and young children.

The Reverend Xolamzi Sam, director of Men for Change, attributed the crimes to a loss of morality, drugs and alcohol abuse.

Addressing the villagers in Ndevana yesterday morning at the crime scene, social development MEC Pemmy Majodina described the incident as inhumane.

“No one in their right minds would do something like this. This is inhumane and it makes me very angry. No bail should be granted for the person accused of killing this family,” Majodina said.

Lieutenant-General Celiwe Binta said the area had been identified as one with a high incidence of gruesome murders.

“After noticing a spike in the gruesome murder of women and children in the province we conducted a strategic formula to identify the hotspots and this village was named as one of them. We have since prioritised the area and have already had positive results by making arrests.”

Binta said a task team had been formed to investigate this incident.

MEC for Human Settlements, Safety and Liaison Helen Sauls-August condemned the triple murder.

“No women and children should suffer the indignity of being attacked, violated and murdered in their homes.”

Sauls-August urged the villagers not to take the law into their own hands.

“The Department of Safety and Liaison will activate the local Community Police Forum and other crime fighting structures in this community,” she said.

The Daily Dispatch has reported on a number of attacks on elderly women in the province this year.

In February a partially blind 110-year-old widow was asleep in her mud house in Jojweni village outside Butterworth when a man broke in and raped her.

In January a 72-year-old woman was raped and killed by an intruder in Ntonga village near Dimbaza.

Shortly after that, a 69-year-old half-blind and deaf grandmother was found in her garden after being raped in her Dutywa home. —