A 41-year-old mother from Crossroads township in Peddie is facing a murder charge after her two-year-old son was assaulted and burned to death on Monday.
The mother, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her three other children, is believed to be unemployed.
She was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of incident.
Her eldest child is in grade 11.
The woman appeared in the Peddie magistrate’s court on Wednesday afternoon on a charge of murder.
Her case has been postponed to July 17 for a formal bail application and she will remain behind bars.
According to provincial police spokesperson Colonel Siphokazi Mawisa, when the police arrived on the scene on Monday, they found the body of the the little boy, who had been assaulted and burned to death.
“It is alleged that the child was assaulted in front of the woman’s seven-year-old daughter ... who [later] alerted the community,” Mawisa said.
She said the daughter was now in the care of a family member.
On Wednesday morning, various faith-based organisations descended on the home of the family to offer their condolences and support.
Relative Nomanani Dingela, 52, said the family was still coming to terms with the ordeal.
“We are trying but we are not entirely all right.
“I didn’t receive the news kindly, that really disturbed me mentally, but because of the support I received, I am now OK.”
Dingela said there had been no prior signs that the alleged perpetrator was capable of doing something like this.
“We don’t know the real motive,” she said.
Khula Community Development Project East Cape’s Petros Majola called for the government to make funds available to all civil society organisations so that they could have programmes to empower women and talk about irresponsible drinking.
“This 41-year-old mother was [allegedly] under the influence of alcohol when [the child was assaulted and set on fire].”
Majola said the incident would not have happened if alcohol was not involved, as had been alleged.
“We call on parents, both males and females, to approach local offices of social development or they can even come to our offices should they [feel] that caring for their children is too much for them.
“There are provisions within the department of social development to accommodate such cases,” he said.
In recent months, the spotlight has been shone on poverty in the Eastern Cape after 38-year-old Bongeka Buso took the lives of her children, Oratile, Orabile and Anathi — aged five, eight and 14 — as well as her own.
It was said that Buso had been struggling to put food on the table.
In May, residents of the Cisirha village in Peddie were stunned by the inexplicable deaths of a granny, her daughter and two grandchildren.
Noseko Ntshabase, her daughter, Bongeka, and her two young grandsons were found dead inside their home, their bodies lying a few metres apart.
The motive and cause of death are still unknown.
Eastern Cape provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene said: “As the police, gender-based violence against women and children is one of the main acts we condemn.
“Whatever the circumstance that might have led [to the murder of this] child is unjustifiable.
“I have spoken to the investigating team that this case be given priority,” she said.
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