Emalahleni - Zinhle Maditla, the woman who is accused of killing her four children in Klarinet in Emalahleni in Mpumalanga, has apologised to her family regarding the incident, her sister Alice Nkosi said on Tuesday.
Nkosi was speaking to reporters outside the Witbank Magistrate’s Court, shortly after her 24-year-old sister Maditla appeared.
During the court proceedings earlier on Tuesday, State prosecutor Johan Harmse told the court that the accused's mental and psychological evaluations had been completed.
He, however, said four other reports of the evaluations that were due to be presented in court were not ready.
Harmse asked the court to postpone the matter to April 4 for the presentation of the outstanding reports. Magistrate Mdumiseni Mavuso accepted the request.
Speaking after the brief appearance, Nkosi said her sibbling, Maditla, had recently written a letter of apology to her family in connection with the incident. Nkosi could not be drawn to say what her sister had actually apologised for.
Zinhle Maditla’s sister Alice Nkosi says her family is patiently waiting for the psychiatric and psychological reports which would determine whether Maditla is fit to stand trial for allegedly killing her four children. Picture: Balise Mabona/ANA
“We visit her very often at the psychiatric hospital and she is not right,” said Nkosi.
“She is always very sad. We are patiently waiting for the reports about her mental evaluation. This incident has made our lives very difficult as a family, but we rely on God and the support from the people in general, as they give us strength.”
Nkosi described Maditla as a good person who loved her children. She said Maditla often did various odd jobs, such as cleaning people’s houses, in order to earn an income and support her children.
The family remain at a loss as to the events that led to the terrible tragedy.
Soon after the decomposed bodies of four children were found in her rented room in Klarinet, Maditla handed herself over to the police on 30 December last year.
Maditla was charged with four counts of premeditated murder of her children - two girls, aged four and eight, and two boys, aged seven years and 11 months. The multiple-murder accused is being represented by Legal Aid lawyer Jabulani Maphethe.