Mpumalanga community safety MEC Pat Ngomane is in shock after a mother was arrested for the deaths of her four children in Emalahleni.

“Our communities should seek help instead of resorting to extreme measures as a way to vent.”

Ngomane said people suffering from depression should contact social workers for help.

“Taking the lives of innocent children is not a solution to whatever problems parents encounter. Children have a right to life.”

The mother, 30, turned herself over to the police. She has been charged with four counts of murder.

Department spokesperson Moeti Mmusi said: “The decomposed bodies of four children, two girls aged four and eight, and two boys aged seven and 11 months, were found by neighbours, who then alerted the police.”

Police said the mother phoned family members on December 30 2018 and summoned them to her house.

“They reportedly went there and were met by a gruesome scene, where dead bodies of her four children, aged between 11 months and eight years, were wrapped in blankets inside the house,” police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said.

The children were last seen on Boxing Day, December 24 2018.

The woman will appear in the Emalahleni Magistrate’s Court soon.