Words written on A4 pages held up by school pupils reflected the sombre mood asYou Raise Me Up played in the background at Isiseko Primary School when pupils on Wednesday remembered two boys murdered in Soweto last week. 

"Rest in peace Tshiamo Rabanye and Nqobizitha Zulu. You will always always be missed by all of us," read the words from the pupils at the school in White City.  

The mutilated bodies of Zulu, 5, and Rabanye, 6, were found 1.4km apart in Rockville and White City, respectively, by residents after a nearly 24-hour search on Thursday last week.

Pupils from the school and others in the area sang hymns as they paid their respects at the memorial service.  

Speakers included Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane and teachers.  

Zulu's teacher, Thoko Manyathi, described him as an angel from God. "I don't want to cry. We are here to celebrate to celebrate the life of Nqobozitha," she said.  

She added that Nqobizitha liked playing and talking. "Whenever you reprimand him, you will see him staring at me with an innocent look. Children are angels from God. Even when you look at them you can see that they are angels from God."  

Rabanye's teacher, Hloniphile Ngidi, said he had been dedicated to his school work.  She said she struggled to accept his death.  

"Why is God allowing such young children to be taken away? Where are the leaders of the future, where are the doctors of tomorrow?"

Chiloane told mourners that children expressed themselves the only way they knew how: through singing, dancing and playing.  

"It is up to us to hear them," he said, adding that no words could describe the loss. "We must not forget the names and faces of the children who were taken from us."

A police source close to the investigation confirmed to TimesLIVE that a  50-year-old woman arrested with a 39-year-old man was related to one of the boys.  

The two are expected to appear in the Protea magistrate's court on Friday.  

Chiloane said he was shocked to learn that those who were arrested were close family members. 

"It made me wonder how did we get to a point where you are able to hate yourself enough that you feel the best is to touch those who look up to you for love, for hope?

"How do you feel when you were taking the life of a child staring at you looking for protection hoping that perhaps it is a dream and then you continue to do that? How did we get here as a society?" he asked. 

TimesLIVE