A debt collector looking for repayment on a loan from a desperate mother in Butterworth, Eastern Cape, found the bodies of the mother and her three children in their home at 7am on Sunday.

In a suicide note that is understood to have been retrieved by the police, the mother, known in the area as a quiet introvert, said she had become overwhelmed by her burdens.

Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said Bongeka Buso (38) was found hanging from a rope in her rondavel. Two of her children, Orabile Buso (8) and Oratile Buso (5) were found dead on the bed. It is alleged that Buso took the last of the family’s food and mixed it with Rattex to poison her smaller children.

Her other child, Anathi Buso, understood to be about 14 years old, was found lying on the floor next to the bed with a knife in her neck. Community members said it looked as if she’d been trying to stop her mother from poisoning the two small children, and there had been a physical altercation. She was found in a pool of blood.

“It is suspected that the two younger children were poisoned. The motive for the deaths is not known; however, it is suspected that it could be driven by poverty,” Naidu said.

She said there would be an inquest and three murder dockets had been opened.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Eastern Cape case of Buso family tragedy was ‘murder and death by hunger’

Eastern Cape Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene expressed her sadness and concern.

“It is a deeply concerning and heartbreaking issue that women facing poverty can be driven to such despair. Socioeconomic challenges can exacerbate their vulnerability to mental health issues. Addressing poverty and promoting mental health support is crucial to prevent such tragedies. As we commemorate Women’s Month, I urge women to raise their voices and speak out. It is crucial to address concerns promptly rather than waiting until they become more difficult to resolve,” Mene said.

Bongeka’s uncle Mkhululi Buso said the family was still in shock. 

“The young children were receiving grant money, but we think that she was under pressure and struggling to pay some of her debts because they were starving sometimes,” he said, “but as I said we don’t know what exactly happened.”

He said he wished she had shared her problems with them before deciding to take her own life and the lives of her children.

Mkhululi confirmed that two of the children had been poisoned and a third was stabbed.

Bongeka’s neighbour Nomthandazo Maboko said she still could not believe what she’d seen inside the rondavel. Maboko said after the debt collector called for help, she immediately ran to the rondavel.

“My first concern was for the safety of the children,” she said.

“When I pushed open the door, I saw her hanging and I looked around. I found the one child dead and saw the other two were also dead and their stomachs were swollen. I tried to wake them up but it was late,” Maboko said.

She said the worst moment was finding the teenager with her face in her own blood.

“Even though we don’t know exactly what happened or what led to this incident, Bongeka had a lot of debt and they were struggling for a long time,” Maboko said.

“Sometimes she was asking for food from neighbours just so they can have something to eat.”

“We have a lot of people who are starving in Butterworth,” Maboko added.

Skyrocketing malnutrition

In March 2022, Daily Maverick highlighted the cost of living crisis, especially in rural Eastern Cape after seven children died of severe acute malnutrition in the district.

In October, the founder of Gift of the Givers, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, said it had become normal to starve in the Eastern Cape. He warned of an impending malnutrition crisis in the country. 

The situation in the province has become progressively worse. 

In a recent answer to questions in Parliament, Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said the incidence of severe acute malnutrition for children in the Eastern Cape is now 2.7 per 1,000 children. That is close to four times the figure in 2018/2019.

According to the minister, severe acute malnutrition cases in the province have increased by 287.7% over five years, a higher rate than anywhere else in the country. 

Yet on Friday, 21 July, responding to a question from the DA’s Kobus Botha, the province’s MEC for Social Development, Bukiwe Fanta, said only 30 food parcels had been distributed in the Amathola district since the start of the financial year in March. The district’s budget for food parcels had been cut by R100,000 since last year and the province’s budget for food parcels by R900,000.

“Nowhere is the devastating impact of the cost-of-living crisis more evident than in female-headed households in the Eastern Cape,” Botha said on Monday.

“The tragedy that struck the Tholeni Administrative area in Butterworth yesterday, where it is alleged a mother first murdered her three young children before taking her own life, apparently motivated by extreme poverty, should never happen. The government has failed this family; no steps taken now will ever change that. Our resilient women, who have fought against and endured so much injustice, are being pushed beyond their breaking points by the skyrocketing costs of basic necessities,” he said. 

“At the same time, the social safety nets that have been put in place to aid families in times of crisis are failing,” Botha said.

The mayor of the Mnquma Local Municipality in Butterworth, Tunyiswa Manxila-Nkamisa, and Council Speaker Monica Qaba, visited Bongeka’s family on Monday morning.

Manxila-Nkamisa encouraged people to speak up and not bottle up problems that they were dealing with in their personal lives. She urged those who were suffering to get help through the municipality’s Special Programmes Unit.

Manxila-Nkamisa said it was tragic that Bongeka had decided to keep quiet.

‘Food is an immediate need’

Corene Conradie from Gift of the Givers in the Eastern Cape said the need for food in the province is “alarmingly high”.

“We worked on the ground throughout Covid-19. The pandemic seriously aggravated poverty in rural areas. Families can’t cope to put food on the table any more. Food is an immediate need.”

She said that in February 2022 the organisation had been alerted to a food crisis in Butterworth as outreach teams were seeing many undernourished children. The local hospital also reported an alarming number of children whose growth was stunted. 

“And then there were those who were admitted just too late. People have become used to being hungry,” Conradie said.

She said she was convinced that hunger was partially to blame for sending the mother in Butterworth into a deep depression.

“With our 50 soup kitchens in the Eastern Cape, we are providing 23,000 meals a day. We are feeding between 4,500 and 5,000 families a day. And I can tell you now that this is just a drop in the bucket,” she said. “There just isn’t enough. The need is alarming.”

She said Gift of the Givers wanted to work with NGOs, the government and corporate South Africa in setting up a more sustainable food system. “We must go back to farming and grow crops in our communities.

“We need donors to donate towards that. We have got the teams. We will go and assist. We will get people with knowledge. We just need the funding,” Conradie said. 

She said apart from disaster food relief and the soup kitchens, Gift of the Givers is continuing to invest in special fortified food.

“We got such good feedback from using this food. So many calls from children’s homes and reports on how it changed the lives of children with HIV and TB.”

She said Gift of the Givers has already rolled out R25-million worth of this emergency food. DM