By Doreen Mokgolo
The body of Soshanguve father Puleng Phaka, who went missing with his three children on New Year’s Eve, was found in a government mortuary weeks after he was found hanging from a tree in an open field on 6 February.
His remains lay in the morgue as one of many unknown and unidentified bodies until last Thursday, when he was identified by his family.
The three siblings — Siphamandla Mlotshwa, 11, Nkosana Mlotshwa, 8 and Mpho Mlotshwa, 7 — are still missing. The two older kids are Phaka’s stepchildren.
Phaka disappeared with the children on New Year’s Eve after a fight with their mother, whom he accused of cheating.
He threatened she would never see the kids again.
The children’s distraught mother, Mbali Mlotshwa, told Scrolla.Africa that her hope of finding her children alive started fading when she saw her boyfriend’s body in the mortuary.
“Initially I believed he would not harm them. I know how much he loved the children. I feared he might have skipped the country with my children, but I did not think he would kill them,” she said.
“Now I fear he might have killed them before hanging himself.”
Mbali needs answers. She wants to know where Phaka abandoned their bodies if he killed them. And if they are not dead, where are they and who is looking after them as he has been dead for weeks? Why have they not said anything?
“I want my children back — dead or alive,” Mbali said.
Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said police are searching for the missing siblings.
“[They] searched the father’s family home in Limpopo and they have not seen him or the children,” said Nevhuhulwi.
Pictured above: Missing siblings Siphamandla Mlotshwa, Nkosana Mlotshwa and Mpho Mlotshwa.
Image source: Supplied
