The family of a two-year-old boy whose body was found in a pit latrine in Ulundi, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, says they suspect foul play. The toddler went missing on Friday.
His body was discovered on Sunday inside a pit toilet that had been used by community members during a traditional ceremony at the weekend.
Mourners arrived in their droves at the Lamula family home in Ulundi. Lisolenkosi Lamula went missing on Friday while the family was preparing for a traditional ceremony at a relative’s homestead on Saturday.
Family members Nontobeko Lamula and Jabulisiwe Lamula say the community quickly came together to search for the boy.
“We are devastated with the incident and it is painful, and the child disappeared, and we searched him on Friday until Saturday. The first areas that we searched was the toilet until Saturday. On Sunday that is where we found the child in the pit toilet.
“When the aunt came back from the ceremony she was surprised that the community was looking for the child, and we searched even across the river and we opened the case at the police station.”
Some family members say the feel let down by the police, saying they were informed by police that they can only open a missing persons case after 24 hours.
“I am disappointed the way he died and it would be better if he got sick. We searched everywhere but unfortunately we didn’t find him. Nothing can be done, its God’s will. The police even failed to help us and we were also forcing them to search and we even asked them to bring sniffing dogs but nothing happened.”
Meanwhile, police have opened an inquest docket to investigate the matter.
The family believe foul play is involved in the child’s death because the pit latrine he was discovered in, had been used by people between the time he went missing and when his body was discovered.
They also claim to have searched the pit latrine during the community search.
KZN | Toddler’s body found in pit latrine:
