SORROW and anger have gripped the family of three children who were brutally murdered in Limpopo at the weekend.

The bodies of nine-year-old Bafana Kekana, his cousins Hosea, 10, and Johanna Kekana ,12, were found in the bushes in Mookgophong on Saturday morning. They had been stoned to death.

According to Sarah Kekana, the mother of Hosea and Johanna, the family last saw the children last Tuesday. They disappeared after a community march to demand more teachers at Dikubu Primary School. The children were all pupils at the school.

The boys were strangled and Johanna was raped before they were all stoned to death. No arrests have been made in connection with the murders.

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said the children, who were still wearing their school uniforms when they were found, had their hands tied with shoelaces.

Bloodied stones were found next to the bodies, which were covered by a blanket and tree branches.

The mother said the children were staying at Mantadi Child and Youth Care Centre in Mookgophong "after they had made a habit of bunking school".

The children had complained of ill-treatment and had fled the centre at the time of their deaths.

But Mulaudzi said they were taken there by social workers "because they were being neglected by their parents".

Centre manager Anna Makwela said they had reported the children missing after they failed to return on Wednesday but she would not be drawn into claims of ill-treatment.

Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana deplored the murders and urged police to do "everything in their power" to apprehend the perpetrators. - frankm@sowetan.co.za