MOLOKO MOLOTO

Family members of a 65- year-old Limpopo woman who was strangled last week, allegedly by her 14-year-old grandson, are now willing to forgive the teenager.

Earlier some in the family had threatened to avenge her death. They also accused the teenager’s mother of instigating the killing.

But during the burial of the old woman at the weekend at Thune Village, in the Ga-Mamabolo area outside Polokwane, the family adopted a reconciliatory tone.

Speaking to The Star at the funeral service, the boy’s aunt, in the presence of three other family members, said the killing was a “mistake”.

Fighting to hold back tears, the boy’s aunt said: “He is a minor, he just made a mistake.”

The aunt said the boy would be allowed back into the family, while his mother said the family had put their differences aside.

The killing of the pensioner sent shockwaves through the province, particularly because the alleged perpetrator was not only her grandson, but a Grade 6 pupil.

According to the boy’s mother and Mankweng police spokesman Constable Moses Molepo, the grandmother was strangled with an electric cord on Thursday.

It’s believed that that day she had reprimanded the teenager for not washing the dishes. At the time, the boy was watching TV.

He is said to have been offended when his grandmother said she expected him to have respect as he had been to an initiation school for circumcision last year.

The boy was arrested two days after the killing and charged with murder.

He remains in custody at the Polokwane Welfare Centre and was not among the mourners at the funeral.

The heavens opened during the funeral service and delayed the burial, but the rain stopped as the procession headed to the Ngwetane cemetery.

Tom Boya, a prominent businessman and chairman of the SA Older Persons Forum, a watchdog for the rights of the aged, spoke against abuse of the elderly.

“Domestic violence has to stop, the abuse of the aged has to come to an end,” he said.

Boya, who is also chairman of the Limpopo First Lady Trust, told the mourners that while the killing of the aged was unacceptable, it was even worse when perpetrated by a family member.

“In this instance we can’t blame the police because the police can’t monitor what happens in our households.”

The boy is expected to apply for bail when he appears again in the Mankweng Magistrate’s Court on Friday.