Mother kills starving children

KAROO NEWS - The desperation of a mother from Butterworth in the Eastern Cape, who allegedly mixed the last of their food in the house with rat poison and then fed it to her starving children, has sent shock waves through the nation this Women's Month.

According to www.dailymaverick.co.za, a debt collector looking for repayment found the bodies of the woman and her three children in their house on Sunday 6 August.

Apparently, a suicide note was found by the police, in which the mother said that she became overwhelmed by her burdens. Family members also say that the woman was deeply in debt and that they had been starving for weeks.

Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu told Daily Maverick that Bongeka Buso (38) was found hanging from a rope in her rondavel. Orabile Buso (8) and Oratile Buso (5) were found dead on the bed. Her oldest child, Anathi Buso, about 14 years old, was found on the floor next to the bed with a knife in her neck. Community members told Daily Maverick that it looked as if she'd been trying to stop her mother from poisoning the two small children.

Last year a World Bank study found that South Africa is most unequal country in the world, with women of colour hit hardest by unemployment and gender-based violence - both made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kobus Botha, DA Shadow Minister for Social Development in the Eastern Cape says food inflation is hitting the poorest of the poor extremely hard.

He said that in the Eastern Cape, 21,7% of households in non-metro areas reported insufficient access to food, 186 134 households in the province reported hunger in 2021, of which 55 241 were households with children aged five years or younger. "Close to 2,9 million people in the Eastern Cape are dependent on Sassa grants. A larger percentage of households, 63,7%, received grants compared to salaries, only 46,2%."

Bridget Masango, DA Shadow Minister of Social Development says research done by the University of Witwatersrand shows that 20 % of households in the country have insufficient food. "Earlier this year the Department of Health revealed in answer to a parliamentary question by the DA that 12 582 children aged 0 to 5 years have died in hospitals since 2013 due to moderate and severe acute malnutrition."

Botha says StatsSA recently announced that the increase in food prices over the past year, contributes to the acute malnutrition in children younger than five and has risen by 26% over the past five years.

"With the average cost of a household food basket of R5 056,45 and the food poverty line of R663, it is no surprise that a study by the University of Witwatersrand published in January 2023, found that one in five South African households were food insecure."

Both Botha and Masango say that to allow the most vulnerable in society to suffer is not only immoral, but it creates a bleak future for everyone who calls South Africa home.

The Buso family