Father: I failed my children

2004-02-18 11:26

Tom de Wet

Theunissen - A Free State family who have been living in isolation for twenty years, were born "normal" says the father, Sello Majola.

The man's family was discovered at a remote cattle post on a farm where they have been living without contact with the outside world for two decades. The mother and four children cannot talk any normal language, but grunt or use sign language. One of the children also walks on all fours.

Majola said his children's condition was the result of his failure to slaughter a sheep at the birth of each one of them "to welcome them into the family".

He said his children were normal until the age of ten. They then suddenly changed and became unable to walk or talk properly anymore.

Lack of a sacred snake

His family's condition might also be contributed to their lack of a sacred snake. This snake, which one was not allowed to kill, came to visit families to check if they are okay, he said. But he didn't know whether his family had such a snake.

He was unaware of rumours in the Theunissen area that his family was bewitched, and that they were "different" for that reason.

Majola said his family has learnt to communicate with each other by means of sign language.

They went to live on the farm 20 years ago when his oldest son was five years old.

When the owner of the farm, Fred Wille, died, a black man from Welkom bought the farm, Majola said.

Wille's widow, Lets, on Tuesday told Volksblad that the children were mentally disabled from birth.

More stimulation from the animals

She said she never saw them when she and her husband visited them to take the man food and his salary. They always ran away or would go and sit on the wall of the animal pen. She said the mother was also "retarded".

She said her husband helped register the oldest child for a state grant on the grounds of his mental condition.

The three sons are 26, 22 and 18 years old while the daughter is 14.

Welkom psychologist Henriette Oberholzer said the children could appear "retarded", but according to information at hand, their development might simply have been hampered by their lack of contact with other humans.

She said the children adopted the wrong social behaviour because they received more stimulation from the animals on the farm than from other people.

- Volksblad