“The grandmother has been arrested and charged with assault but we don’t know who she assaulted. The uncle of the children has also been arrested even though he was the one who was being chased and threatened by Mboro with his pangas,” Gele said.
“I am hoping that they release the uncle and my sister because they are not suspects, they have done nothing wrong and only wanted to do the right thing by the children.”
On Tuesday, a witness who lives near the school were the chaos erupted told Sowetan that everything escalated from a family meeting held on Saturday. She said both families did not reach an amicable solution, which resulted in what happened on Monday.
According to Gele, the children, aged 5 and 7 years, have been living with the paternal family since the passing of their mother.
“These children need treatment, so the grandmother took them to hospital last week so they could get treatment, but on Thursday, their father came and took them during school hours and left with them.
“We allowed him to take them because we thought he would bring them back but the next day they didn’t show up at school … and these children need treatment.
“We went to the house [Mboro’s home] on Friday to give the children their medication but Motsoeneng refused us access to them, brandishing the same pangas in front of the police,” said Gele.
She said Motsoeneng was not an angelic grandfather as he wanted people to believe. “All we ask is to take care of the children for now and help raise them. The children know who their father is and they will go back to him.”
Meanwhile, the maternal grandmother of Mboro’s grandchildren appeared in court on Wednesday with one of her relatives and both are out on bail.
They both face charges of intimidation and common assault in connection and were granted R1,000 bail each.The grandmother is an employee at the Katlehong school in the entre of the panga attack and she and Mboro son are engaged in a fierce custody battle. Both the grandmother and the male relative can’t be named to protect the identity of the children who are under her guardianship as their mother is deceased.
Koena Mashale
www.sowetanlive.co.za
