By Buziwe Nocuze
Community members were woken by the blaze of a burning shack and the screams of two children trapped inside, while their mother sat and watched from outside.
When residents of the Waterworks informal settlement in Grabouw in Western Cape asked the mother why she wasn’t saving her children, she said she was cooking the children so she could eat them.
The residents, including the 32-year-old mother’s sister, couldn’t save the five-year-old and three-year-old in time, and they perished in the fire in the early hours of Friday morning.
Zandile Nodada, 24, wants her sister locked away for what she did.
“I was sleeping when I heard people screaming. I ran outside and saw the fire coming out of my sister’s shack.”
She rushed to save her sister and the kids, but she was surprised to see her sister sitting calmly in front of the burning shack.
“I could hear her kids screaming, asking for help. I asked her why she left the kids inside the burning shack, and she told me that she was braaing them so that she could eat them.”
Neighbours tried to save the kids, but the fire was too intense. “We do not know what she used to start the fire. It was too strong, and no one could have managed to get inside.”
She said that even though her sister was regularly abusive towards her children, no one ever thought she would kill them.
“I want her to stay in jail forever. What she did shows that she never loved her kids, and to sit there while they were crying for help says a lot about her. No one is safe around her. She deserves to be locked away from people.”
The sister added, however, that the suspect has been struggling with mental health issues.
Western Cape SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said a 32-year-old mother has been arrested and is facing a murder charge. “The arrest relates to an incident where Grabouw police were called out to the informal Waterworks settlement in the early hours of Friday morning.”
Upon arrival, they discovered a shack that was already on fire. During the scene inspection, the charred bodies of two boys were found.
Pictured Above: The charred remains of the shack
Image Credit: Buziwe Nocuze
