LEBOGANG SEALE
T WO SENAOANE families are mourning the deaths of their children after they suffocated in a metal trunk in a local churchyard.
Andile Radebe, 5, and Ntando Mahlase, 3, were pulled from the box with two other children, Zama and Siphesihle Mahlase, both aged seven.
The survivors, a sister and half- sister of Ntando, suffered multiple bruises and were hospitalised.
The children were trapped in the box for about two-and-a-half hours before being found on Friday night lying on top of each other.
Andile was at the bottom of the trunk, with Ntando on top of him.
The trunk, which had been lying in the churchyard since last year, was removed by the police.
Yesterday, the grieving families told of how the tragedy unfolded.
Andile’s family said they became alarmed at about 5.30pm when the boy’s twin sister Ayanda came looking for him. The family had thought the twins were at their grandmother’s shack, near the Christian Salem Church.
“It was Ayanda who raised our eyebrows because we thought Andile was with her,” said Eunice Radebe, the twins’ aunt.
A search was was soon under way for Andile.
Meanwhile, Ntando’s mother and relatives became panic-stricken when she and her siblings did not return home by 6pm.
A massive search for the children was joined by neighbours and the sector police officers patrolling the area.
After scouring the streets, nearby bushes and a hill, and with no sign of the three children, the searchers decided to go to the Moroka police station.
“We walked past the churchyard, not suspecting they could be there,” Radebe said.
The search continued after a missing persons case was opened.
Back in Senaoane, Ntando’s family were getting extremely agitated. By 8pm Ntando was still missing. They, too, decided to go to the police.
“Before we could open a case, we went to take a photo of Andile from his granny’s home. As we approached the shack, we heard some screams coming from the church’s direction,” recalled Eunice.
A neighbour who lives near the shack said he had earlier heard screams coming from the church’s direction. He had knocked at the door of Andile’s granny and found Tiyani Ntshane, a cousin of Andile’s mother, Musa Radebe.
It was after the man alerted her that Ntshane made the gruesome discovery.
“I heard the screams too. They were faint. I tried to open the box but the lid was too heavy.
“I pleaded with the man to help me. We found four children,” Ntshane recalled.
“They were lying on top of each other. Andile was at the bottom. We carried the three-year-old (Ntando) and placed her on the ground. I checked the pulse. There was nothing.
“The man picked up Andile and placed him on the ground. I checked the pulse. There was none,” she said, her voice trembling.
As Ntshane spoke, Andile’s mother burst into tears.
Ntshane added: “As soon as Andile’s mother arrived, she started screaming. She was holding her head with both her hands.”
The mother was so grief-stricken she could barely speak.
It was then that Ntando’s family were alerted. Bruises and scratches on Siphesihle and Zama’s faces and bodies bore testimony to their ordeal and narrow escape.
Both families did not rule out the possibility of foul play.
“Four children can’t just pack themselves in such a small box. We want to know who did this evil deed,” said Eunice.
The man who helped remove the children has since disappeared.