Kimberley - The community of Bankhara in the Northern Cape is still reeling from shock after the discovery of the bodies of two missing little girls in an unused deep freezer.
The shocking discovery of the two girls, Reneelwe Mosutlhi, 4, and Tlhokomelo Ndenzela, 5, was made on Monday morning by a member of the community who was looking for house keys.
The girls, who were friends, went missing on Sunday afternoon and the police were alerted.
They were last seen at around 2pm on Sunday and police started a search party immediately
According to one of the girl’s mother, Mmabatho Ndenzela, they were alerted by the screams and cries of the person who discovered the bodies of the children in the fridge.
She said that the two girls became friends and neighbours when her family moved to Bankhara, near Kuruman, from Mothibistad in 2018.
The girls’ bodies were discovered in a fridge in the yard opposite their homes. The owner of the property repairs fridges.
“We were still busy, as the police were completing the (missing person) docket at my house, when the neighbour started running and screaming and we rushed towards her. We were greeted by the tiny bodies inside the fridge,” said the mother.
“It is so hard to believe that we have been passing the children right in front of us without the slightest idea that they are nearby.”
The distraught mother said that she is now faced with the challenge of the burial costs as she is unemployed and has no insurance to bury her little girl.
Even though she wanted to bury her daughter this coming weekend, she went to make arrangements at a mortuary to store the body and she does not know the next step forward.
According to Ndenzela, she would like her daughter to be buried in Mothibistad as she was planning to return “home” after her partner’s death.
“My stay in Bankhara village has been the hardest in 2019. The traumatic death of my last born is the hardest thing to swallow. Now there is nothing else for me to stay here for. Initially I was only waiting for my two older children to finish writing exams for us to return home. Now this.”
An inquest case has been opened for further investigation by the Kuruman police following the incident.
The Cluster Commander of John Taolo Gaetsewe, Major-General Johan Bean, urged community members to keep children away from fridges and freezers that are not in use.