An emotional joint funeral was held last Saturday for the mother and her two young children who were discovered brutally murdered and burnt in their two-roomed house at Tshedza Village a fortnight ago.

Mrs Phophi Tracey Radzilani (30) and her two children, Shumani (5) and seven-month-old boy, Mpfariseni, were laid to rest at the Tshedza cemetery. The mother was found lying dead in a pool of blood in the sitting room, naked and with a big, long wound to the left cheek and on her occiput, which seemed to have been inflicted by a heavy instrument. The two lifeless bodies of the children were found on top of the bed, which was burnt to ashes.

Last Thursday, during a memorial service, a large group of people from all walks of life gathered at the bereaved family’s home to mourn the killings. Speaker after speaker described Phophi as a strong woman and community activist, who was committed to developing her village. Cllr Thanyani Mudau said the Makhado Municipality is concerned about what had happened, as residents are living in fear that they might be killed. “When our people went to sleep, they often felt unsafe because certain people seemed to be not prepared to respect children and women’s rights,” said Cllr Lindiwe Hlungwane.

Musanda Vho-LN Radzilani expressed his concern about the judicial system, which he described as lenient and on the side of criminals.

As police showed no progress in nabbing the suspects, anger mounted amongst residents. Last Wednesday and Thursday, angry residents went on the rampage. They blocked the road to Vuvha Village and stoned vehicles passing. On Saturday, close to 2 000 people attended the emotional funeral. The outspoken provincial organising secretary of the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco), Mr James Delekisa, had mixed emotions. “It is high time for the provincial commissioner to remove the area commissioner in Vhembe, together with his station commissioners because they are failing to curb ritual motivated killings. They must be deployed to Kwazulu-Natal. When we give them information, they tell us that our evidence does not have concrete,” he said.

The children's father, Shumani Mushiana, a taxi driver in Gauteng, also attended the funeral. As Phophi and the children's deaths hurt everybody, the mayor of the Makhado Municipality, Cllr Tsakani Glory Mashaba, said that it was disturbing to find that there are people who are still choosing to kill women and children while the government has put in place policies to protect them. “We condemn this type of action and we know that some of our people have information. We want to encourage them to come forward with such information before more people are killed. We are busy reviving our community policing forums, we have launched the umbrella body of the community forum at the municipal level and very soon we will be re-launching the branches within our municpal wards.”

Member of Parliament Mrs Elda Lishivha said that the manner in which the killings were conducted touched her. “I have worked with the deceased several times. I have noted the demands of residents and I will bring them to the Minister of Safety and Security. I also wonder what is in the Minister's mind as every week in our district the victims of ritually motivated killings are being buried,” she said.

The MEC for Safety, Liaison and Security, Mr Samson Ndou also attended the funeral.