100s bid poison family farewell
2008-10-04 18:00
Johannesburg - Hundreds of people on Saturday braved the wet rainy conditions near Port Shepstone to attend the funeral of 13 members of a KwaZulu-Natal family who were killed after consuming a fatal herbal concoction.
The bodies of the Mazubanes were discovered on September 21 by a neighbour who had gone to their Dingleton home.
Police spokesperson Zandra Wiid said at the time they had apparently been carrying out a regular ritual of taking herbal medicine when they began collapsing.
Found dead were a two-week-old baby, four boys aged between two and seven, a 17-year-old boy, a 21-year-old man, four women in their 30s and two, 55-year-olds.
Wiid said these were the grandparents, their children and grandchildren.
It was believed that the 17-year-old, a trainee traditional healer, had administered the deadly concoction.
Only two members of the family survived. They had been out visiting friends.
At the funeral held on Saturday at the Dingleton sportsfield the coffins were lined up from the smallest to the biggest.
The members of three different congregations were reported to have attended the funeral proceedings.
KwaZulu-Natal's social welfare MEC Meshack Radebe who addressed the mourners said the fact that the family died from consuming a herb, did not mean that the government intended to ban traditional healers.
- SAPA