Johannesburg - The parents of three Limpopo children who were stoned to death face possible negligence charges.
The Limpopo Safety, Security and Liaison Department has indicated the authorities were investigating allegations that the parents had not been taking care of the minors.
Siblings Hosea, 10, and Johanna Kekana, 12, and their nine-year-old cousin Bafana Kekana were stoned at the weekend in the bush outside Mookgophong.
Police said Johanna was raped before she was killed.
They were found in school uniform and with their hands tied with shoelaces.
President Jacob Zuma said: “Such outrageous and inhuman action against defenceless children is a gross violation of the right to human life as enshrined in the constitution.”
At the time of their disappearance, the three stayed at the Mantadi Child and Youth Care Centre, following social workers’ recommendations.
They were last seen on Wednesday at a march organised by Dikubu Primary School to demand more teachers. They never returned to the shelter.
The gruesome killings have sparked accusations and counter-accusations between the parents and the authorities.
Bafana’s mother Mpho blames the shelter and the Limpopo Social Development Department for the children’s disappearance and deaths. But department head Aggrey Morake denied allegations that the shelter and authorities had been negligent.
MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison Florence Radzilani visited the bereaved family on Tuesday.
Her spokesman, Molebatsi Masedi, confirmed the probe against the children’s parents.
The children’s mothers are sisters, but each of the families had their own home.
Masedi told The Star on Tuesday that the investigation into the parents would also trace the payment of social grants.
“One other thing that is being investigated is to determine if the parents were [pocketing] the social grants [due to the children] and not taking care of them,” said Masedi.
The three cousins, including Mpho’s other children, aged three and five, were taken to the shelter in June.
This week, Mpho denied allegations that she had neglected her children.
She said they had stayed with her 63-year-old mother as she worked at a farm in the neighbouring town of Mokopane.
She said her children were taken away from her 21-year-old brother after her mother had been admitted to hospital.
The family could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Morake said his department, the Mookgophong local municipality and the Waterberg district municipality would carry the funeral expenses.
Sapa reports that the DA said on Monday the three children were denied their right to basic education.
DA education spokeswoman Desiree van der Walt said: “These three learners spent the last hours before their brutal murder protesting for their right to a basic education.
“The June reports for Dikubu Primary learners show blank spaces where marks for English, natural sciences and technology are meant to be filled.”
“This is yet another incident where learners in Limpopo are being failed by our education system.”
The Limpopo Education Department accused the DA of stooping to an “all-time low” by accusing it of failing the murdered children. - The Star