THE Modimolle municipality in Limpopo (formerly Nylstroom) will tomorrow hold a joint funeral for three victims of a convicted serial killer.

The bones of two of the children were discovered in shallow graves after serial killer David Rannditsheni, 47, pointed out the spots where he had buried them shortly after his arrest in May last year. DNA results were released this week to enable the families of the victims to bury them.

The bones of Nono Johanna Lefawana, who disappeared on January 10 2005 aged seven, and that of Johanna Ramokone Motshabi, who disappeared on January 11 2006 aged only three, were discovered in the mountains near Phagameng.

The body of the third victim, Johanna Mabunda, who was 13 at the time of her disappearance, was discovered on July 25 2006. Her DNA results have not been released yet. On Monday the results of all the bodies except Mabunda were released in order to allow their families to bury them.

Municipal spokesperson Patrick Shika said they had resolved to conduct a joint funeral for the victims and will curry the costs.

"As a municipality we felt it appropriate to assist the families to bury their children," he said.

Shika said all the test results came out positive and the families were satisfied and had accepted that they needed to get closure on the matter.

"The families indicated that all they wanted was to bury their children and forget about the matter since they were satisfied with the punishment meted out to the person who inflicted so much pain on them," he said.

Rannditsheni committed suicide a week ago after being sentenced to 26 life sentences and 220 years in jail.