Mom finds slain daughter clutching teddybear, younger child who hid under bed

A distraught mother has spoken about her two young children's last moments.

The words of siblings Tinyiko and Mpfumo Mashaba's killer, who is known to their mother Itumeleng, keep ringing in her head.

She was standing a short distance away from their shack in Changing Spot informal settlement in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, when her daughters aged four and seven were killed. She believes they were shot before their shack was set alight.

Mashaba, 33, said she and her partner Louis had gone out for a short time, leaving their children in the shack. She said as they were returning home, they heard someone open one of their gates.

“He [attacker] kicked the gate and I heard him kicking the door. Then I heard him asking the kids where 'are your parents' and asking where is Louis [their father]. The older one responded that 'my mom is not around'. She said I would be coming back soon. I was listening at the back of the shack]

"He told them 'you are going to die because your father loves money'. I then heard gunshots,” said Mashaba.

“I think he heard the gate open and saw us. He came towards the gate where I was standing. I ran and he chased after me.

"He managed to catch me but I slipped away and he said it would not end well. I was about four streets away from my home when I saw smoke and I knew my kids were gone.

"My boyfriend also managed to escape. I think he was shocked because he had heard his friend was shot earlier by the same guy [who killed our children],” Mashaba said.

She said she started receiving messages from her neighbours telling her about the fire and she knew she had lost her children.

Mashaba said she spent 14 minutes watching her shack burning. .

“I found my older child hugging her teddybear with a bullet in her stomach and the younger one beneath the bed as if she wanted to hide under it.”

Mashaba had spent Sunday with Tinyiko, who aspired to be a police officer, while Mpfumo, who had started showing potential in fashion design, spent her day with friends.

Mashaba said Louis was a member of a crime-fighting forum in the area but he left it three months ago.

She claimed the forum had been hijacked by other community members who were allegedly extorting money from residents and shop owners in the area.

Mashaba said the group demands R300 payments, with R250 for water and electricity and R50 for security.

The informal settlement is illegally connected to water and electricity infrastructure.

Electricity wires criss-cross above shacks and snake around on the ground, posing danger to residents.

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said of the murders: "I heard him call for Louis and then heard the kids scream. Then the gunshots went off. There was total silence afterwards."

Gauteng police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo, said a team of detectives is investigating the murders of the two children and the shooting of six patrons at a nearby tavern.

A man and a woman died at the scene. The four wounded patrons were taken to a medical care centre. He said the suspects left the tavern and headed to the shack in the same area and set it alight. The two girls were certified dead at the scene.

"Preliminary investigation suggests the suspects were after the father of the girls, who was not at home during the incident."

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