The son of domestic worker Tryphinah Mngumezulu (65), who was mauled to death by dogs at her employer’s house in Secunda in Mpumalanga on March 2, says it’s not likely that his mother hit the dogs for no reason.

The attack by six Belgian Malinois on Tryphinah was captured on CCTV footage.

Tryphinah was a full-time cleaner at a private preschool in Secunda during the week and worked one weekend a month for the dogs’ owners.

Her son Class Mngumezulu says his mother worked for the family for 14 years and got along well with the dogs and the family.

“She often took care of the dogs and the family’s children and even went with them on holiday,” says Class.

“I do not know what happened on the day of her death, but it is not like my mother to hit the dogs for no reason. She loved animals, especially dogs, and even planned on adopting a puppy,” he adds.

According to police spokesperson Constable Busi Mthethwa, the family’s 10-year-old daughter and Tryphinah were alone at home during the attack.

The girl found her caretaker’s body in the yard at about 16:30 and called for help. Police officers and emergency services initially thought the woman had been stabbed to death, says Mthethwa.

Her clothes were torn off and she had wounds on her body. However, when the police viewed the CCTV footage, they saw the woman allegedly hitting the dogs with a green hosepipe moments before she was attacked, Mthethwa explains.

Class referred to his mother’s death as a tragic accident, but insists that something must have happened to force his mother to hit the animals.

“I was told that due to load-shedding, the events in the run-up to my mother using the hosepipe were unfortunately not recorded.”

Class says his family is extremely traumatised.

“We have many questions, especially about the manner in which we were notified of her death. I tried to call my mother several times on Saturday and Sunday, but the phone just rang.

“I was only informed on Monday that my mother had died and her body was at the mortuary.”

Class says the employers knew where his mother lived and he does not understand why they did not go to her house to inform her family of her death in person.

“The first time the man spoke to me was when I went to their house.”

Class says his mother was taking care of his deceased sister’s two children. She was the sole breadwinner.

Tryphinah was also the grandmother to Class’ three young children. Class says he will remember her as a loving and caring person.

“Comments on social media exclaiming that my mother deserved to die, are simply appalling. I cannot believe that some people value animals over the life of a human being,” he says.

He says it also saddens him that people are turning this matter into a racial issue. Ridge Times asked the dogs’ owners for comment, but they declined.

Ridge Times is prohibited by law from identifying the dogs’ owners as this will indirectly identify the 10-year-old girl who is a witness in the case.

Section 154(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act prohibits the media from identifying a child who is a victim, a witness or even a perpetrator of a crime.

Malinois are loyal and intelligent

Ridge Times spoke to Joanie Viljoen, a dog trainer from Middelburg, who specifically trains Belgian Malinois and Alsatians. Viljoen says a Malinois needs a lot of attention and is loyal and intelligent.

“They are service dogs, often trained to work for the police,” says Viljoen.

A Malinois and a dachshund, for example, must be handled differently. A Malinois needs a lot of stimulation, she says.

“As service dogs, Malinois have four basic drives – play, prey, defend and fight.”

According to Viljoen, the owner of a Malinois should know how to handle this type of dog breed and learn how to read their body language.

“These dogs have a very high energy drive and anything can trigger them. Some animals develop excessive play aggression.

“There may be a threshold of stimulation exceeded before such aggression develops.”

Viljoen, who has completed four years of training and studying dogs, says sometimes a Malinois shows excessive investigatory behaviour, as they are inquisitive. This sometimes gets them into trouble, she adds.

She says it’s important to stimulate a Malinois’ brain and body by taking them for regular runs in the veld and training, even if it’s only basic training.

She describes the Malinois as one of the best guard dogs and also as a dog that gets along well with other dogs if their owners teach them to socialise at a young age.