Namhla Tshisela

Namhla Tshisela

"I am going home to die no more," pupils of Letsha Primary School sang yesterday as two coffins with the bodies of their former schoolmates were carried out of a church.

The bodies of Thelma and Michelle Mokoena were leaving the Charles Wesley Methodist Church in Daveyton, Benoni, for Phumulani Cemetery.

Their mothers Grace and Mapule Mokoena followed the coffins as they left the church.

The mothers had waited nine months for DNA tests to positively identify two decomposed bodies that were found a week after the children disappeared.

The two girls had left their home in January to visit an aunt and never returned.

Speaking at the funeral, the girls' uncle, Lemi Mokoena, said the family had finally come to terms with their deaths.

"It's difficult for us to move on without them, but we have faith that we will get over this," he said.

Postmortem results last week showedthat the girls might have been beaten to death. Thelma was found with a cracked skull and Michelle was found to have suffered a fractured and dislocated spine.