Mum (24) poisons her 3 kids, 1 dies
MANZINI - A 24-yearold mother has been arrested for allegedly poisoning and killing her five-year-old twin child.
The mother, Simangele Maggy Khumalo, was reportedly in a quest to take her own life after making her three children ingest a poisonous substance. However, she supposedly stopped when she saw her young ones writhing in pain. The minors aged 14 months and five years old are currently admitted to Mankayane Government Hospital, where they are receiving treatment.
This publication reliably gathered that the rationale behind the minors’ killing, was that the mother was stressed about her children’s birth certificates, which she had not made.
Deceased
The five-year-old deceased girl (Phiwokuhle Dlamini) is a twin to Sukoluhle, who was also made to ingest the poisonous substance allegedly by her mother, together with their 14-month-old sibling, Andiswa Mabuza.
The agonising incident happened on Friday at Tsaweni in Mankayane in the Manzini Region.
According to sources, the mother was not successful in making her children’s birth certificates, something that stressed her to the point of allegedly wanting to kill them. The source revealed that when the twins were born, they were given a surname which was later changed after she discovered the biological father last year.
It was also shared that the twins’ grandmother decided to take custody of them until two weeks ago when the mother requested them for a visit. The source disclosed that the grandmother made a request that the mother should change the twins’ surname so she could send them to pre-school. It was said she never went to the police or Social Welfare Department for any assistance.
Meanwhile, on the day of the incident at around 7:45am, it was gathered that Khumalo woke up and mixed the poisonous substance with water and gave it to her children to drink.
They started complaining of pain while Khumalo is said to have abandoned her earlier thought of also ingesting the poison. The mother reportedly called her cousin who allegedly took the children to her grandfather, who prayed for them. It was revealed that at this instance, the mother of the children had not disclosed what had happened.
It was when the ailing Phiwokuhle had foam around her mouth, that the grandfather purportedly recommended that they be rushed to Mankayane Government Hospital, where she was confirmed dead.
Siblings
The two siblings reportedly received treatment, and the mother was arrested after disclosing information about the incident. Khumalo then appeared before Manzini Magistrate Sebenzile Ndlela, where she faced one count of murder and two of attempted murder.
She was remanded in custody till December 7.
This is not the first time a child has been allegedly killed by a parent as recently, this publication reported about two fathers who allegedly killed their babies by forcing them to ingest pesticides, following misunderstandings with the mothers of the children.
In one instance at Buhlebuyeza under Madlangampisi Constituency, Musa Mathole Nxumalo (40), allegedly killed his son aged two, by forcing him to ingest a pesticide. Nxumalo then committed suicide by ingesting the same poisonous substance.
Ingest
It was reported that the deceased man’s brother, Celani revealed that Musa, called a relative of his live-in-lover and informed her that he was about to force his son to ingest the pesticide before doing so.
The incident happened in the presence of two teenagers.
Celani said the teenagers intervened and ordered their father to stop forcing the minor to ingest the pesticide; but failed to do so as he threatened to force them to also consume it.
In another incident, a 21-year-old mother killed her two children by forcing them to ingest a poisonous substance after their father impregnated another woman at a Phungwayo homestead at Masundvwini.
The incident happened in May 2011, where the children, a girl (4) and a boy (2) both died at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital, while the mother, Tengetile Zwane, was then in a stable condition at the Female Medical Ward after she also ingested the same substance.