Mom Debuseng Mogele and dad, Thabo Senama are devastated after their teenage daughter allegedly committed suicide.
The only comfort that parents of a teenage girl who allegedly committed suicide by drinking rat poison are left with, is the personal assistance they are receiving from the staff from the city’s Region A.
On 13 January, 16-year-old Malesope Ntlangwe is said to have drunk rat poison while meeting with friends on her street. She lived with her parents and two siblings in a three-room shack in the Meriting section at Kaalfontein Extension 22.
Her father, Thabo Senama, who does not have permanent employment had gone to do some temporary work and her mother, Debuseng Mogele, had accompanied her 20-year-old son to the clinic on that fateful day. Ntlangwe was supposed to be babysitting her three-year-old sister while her parents were away.
Her sudden death has left her family and neighbours baffled.
According to one neighbour, Frieda Mptsha, Ntlangwe was her usual happy self when she went to join her friends on the street. “She loved singing and that’s what she was doing that day. A little while after she joined her peers, I saw them carrying her and bringing her back home. I left my laundry and rushed to them,” she said.
16-year-old Malesope Ntlangwe who passed away.
Mptsha revealed that the teenager’s friends told her that Ntlangwe complained of losing her sight before she began vomiting. “Other neighbours came to assist. We placed her under a tree and gave her milk to drink. She already had foam coming out of her mouth. The ambulance arrived immediately but, unfortunately, she was declared dead by the paramedics.”
The family lives in impoverished conditions and has a minimal income; they were not only devastated by the sudden death of their daughter but also faced the predicament of not having the finances to bury her.
Ward 132 councillor Annette Deppe was approached by a community member to assist the family with funeral arrangements. Deppe said she worked together with the DA PR councillor of the ward, Julie Sudderby and contacted the regional director, Abigail Ndlovu for assistance.
Ndlovu said she had communicated with the father of the deceased and sent social workers to speak to the family. “Social workers had already gone to meet with the family and, unfortunately, the City cannot assist them because the deceased is not documented and the mother is a Lesotho national and not legally married to her South African partner. The family does not qualify for social burial,” explained Ndlovu.
However, she said they had found someone who donated a coffin, and personnel in the regional office are contributing groceries. “We will go with the councillors to meet with the family again. I, my team, with the regional councillors and the regional member of the mayoral committee have decided to contribute from our own pockets to assist the family with the burial,” she concluded.
