Kamogelo Muvhenzhe
A mother of two from Rotterdam in Limpopo poisoned herself and her two young children on Monday evening after she was caught stealing payments to a funeral services company.
For a year Angie Maluleke collected money from burial society members at Sassa pay points and duly delivered it to her employer, the funeral services.
Last Tuesday, the 33-year-old from Rotterdam in Limpopo collected the money but this time she pocketed the money, which totalled over R5,000.
When her employer and society members discovered the theft on Monday, they threatened to have her locked up.
Maluleke had already spent the money and didn’t know how she was going to pay the money back.
Panicking, she resorted to the unthinkable. She poisoned the food that she shared with her children, aged two and five.
Five-year-old Xiluvha survived the poisoning and is receiving treatment at a local hospital, while two-year-old Nhlakuso, together with Angie, died on their way to hospital.
According to her nephew, Nyiko Maluleke, 34, the family believes she used the money to pay off previous debts.
“There is no way she could have spent over R5,000 in less than a week. She must have paid her debts,” Maluleke said
He said his grandmother, Angie’s mother, even offered to pay off the debt with the stokvel money she was expecting, but that didn’t help.
“She was a quiet person who didn’t talk much. She was probably depressed and didn’t share it with us. All we can do now is to accept her death because we cannot bring her back;” he said.
A friend, who didn’t want to be named, said Angie was involved in multiple stokvels and couldn’t keep up with the payments.
“It’s sad that she ended her life like this and also included the kids,” they said.
Truth Hlongwane, from Sewatumone Funeral Services, said that they were aware that Angie had spent their clients’ money, but she had promised to pay it back.
Police in the province confirmed the incident and said their preliminary investigations revealed that the motive for the alleged poisoning was possibly perpetuated by financial burdens.
Provincial Commissioner General Thembi Hadebe condemned the incident and advised people to seek help from family, pastors, friends or professionals to prevent tragedies like this.
