Koster – The remains of seven people killed in a shack fire in Koster arrived in the small North West farming town on Tuesday for a mass funeral.
Mourners sat under a giant white tent singing hymns.
African National Congress (ANC) Women League members dressed in their signature green and black uniform held flowers while looking at the seven coffins lined up in front of them.
Mourners stood up when the bodies of Mojaki Elizabeth Mwale, 74, Christina Sepinki Mwale, 36, Abram Mwale 15, Samantha Mwale, 12, Refilwe Mwale 10, Ofentse Mwale 8 and Precious Mwale, aged three, were brought into the tent.
They burnt to death when a 49-year-old man allegedly torched their shack at the Senthumole informal settlement in Reagile on Tuesday last week.
The 49-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with seven counts of murder, as well as arson.
Family spokesman Jackie Segakweng said the family was still in shock by the death of the seven family members.
“It is a shock to us. This is a technical knock-out. It is a whitewash…” he said.
Segakweng said he hoped the government would take drastic action to prevent further such deaths.
“We cannot afford to see these deaths day and night.”
Lerato Mekgwe, circuit manager in Kgetleng, told mourners that women must break the silence of abuse.
Mekgwe said she was once in an abusive relationship and left only after her husband shot and wounded her.
“The signs were there but, I ignored them, I was blinded by love…,” she said.
“When my children told me my husband does not love them, I ignored them until he shot me. I took a decision that I am not staying in this relationship. I got out of the relationship. Today I am a cripple because of the abusive relationship.”
Kgetlengrivier municipality mayor Kim Medupe called on residents to be calm and allow the law to take its course.
“We are not going to judge until the justice system runs its course,” she said.
She described the murders as brutal and senseless.
She told mourners a house would be built for the remaining members of the family.
The chairman of Kgalagatsane Primary School governing body, Dikgang Mokgosi, said they were shocked by the murders.
“The person who did this will be judged and punished.”
He appealed to young women not to remain in relationships where they were being abused.
“Make sure you fall in love with the right person, who will not kill you.”
Mourners battled to hide their emotions as they sang religious songs.
Family members and some of the mourners sobbed when Kgalagatsane Primary School choir sang a hymn to bid farewell to four of their former school mates.
African News Agency