Father kills two kids, commits suicide in Mpumalanga

A 43-year-old man has allegedly doused his wife and two children with petrol and set them alight inside a room they were renting at Zwelisha Trust, outside Mbombela, Mpumalanga.

Police spokesperson Donald Mdluli says community members rescued the three from the flames. However, the two children later died in hospital and the mother sustained serious injuries. The father later committed suicide.

Mdluli says they are investigating cases of murder, attempted murder and arson. “The two kids later died in hospital the man was also found hanging according to the reports it indicates that he might have committed suicide the wife is still in hospital. So the police are investigating two counts of murder, arson and an inquest.”

‘GBV in SA akin to a pandemic’ 

Last week, Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoane-Mashabane said  Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in South Africa is akin to a pandemic.

Speaking during the Northern Cape’s launch of Progressive Professional Forum’s campaign, Nkoane-Mashabane said the same energy used to fight COVID-19 should be directed to violence against women and children, urging men need to do better.

“Go door-to-door, talk to our boy children that they did not create patriarchy, they inherited it; they actually don’t have the responsibility to make it keep going. It’s time to heed the voice, the one that says “sekwanele,” it is enough. President Ramaphosa says we must deal with the scourge with tenacity as we deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. We must look at this as a pandemic. Action and more action; you cannot look the other way.”

Tough new laws could be in place to help fight GBV and femicide: