POLOKWANE – While some people are scarred for life after coming across the body of a woman and her daughter in a veld in Ladanna on Monday morning, the police say they have no record of the incident, despite officials having been at the scene.
People tried to flag down vehicles in Pietersburg Street, Ladanna near the railroad crossing after the horrific discovery of the bodies of a mother and her child were found in the veld.
“I can understand many things, but I will never understand why the child had to die. The mother left a note at the scene where she said she could not ‘do this anymore’. We don’t know how they died, because there was no blood at the scene,” a security guard who works at a shopping centre in Ladanna said.
The security guard, who did not want to be identified, said she was walking to work when two men who seemed to be in shock approached and begged her to contact the police and help them to flag down a vehicle to assist them.
The men told her they had been taking a shortcut through the veld as they did daily when they saw a strange bundle in the bushes. They investigated and were shocked when they found the bodies of a woman in her 30’s and a young girl.
“I saw the bodies and then phoned the Polokwane police station and the police arrived within a few minutes,” the security guard said. She said the little girl seemed to be around three years old as the child was the same size as her own three year old.
While she made the call, another man, Joshua Ramalepe, who was also on his way to work, saw the bundle and investigated. “I thought that it was refuse that was dumped in the veld. Then I saw the bundle was actually two people and at first I thought they were homeless people sheltering there. However, when I got nearer, I realised they were dead.
“This will haunt me forever. I cannot sleep at night and keep seeing the face of the child. I keep asking myself if I could have helped if I arrived. There are so many questions about these deaths that occurred so close to Christmas. I pray that God will be with these two people and hold this woman and child in His arms,” Ramalepe said.
Westenburg police spokesperson, Capt Mohlaka Mashiane, said he too had no record of such an incident. He said he believed the Polokwane police had been on the scene, as a resident had contacted their police station.
Polokwane police spokesperson, WO Lesiba Ramoshaba said there was no report of these bodies being found.
