Zinhle Maditla has pleaded guilty to four murder charges.
The victims were her own children, Minenhle (8), Blessing (6), Shanique (4) and Ettiene (11 months).
Judge Segopotje Mphahlele found Maditla guilty on all four counts of premeditated murder.
On Monday, September 9 the details of the premeditated murder had chills running down the spines of those in the Middelburg High Court.
The 24-year-old mother wasted no time in entering her guilty plea.
Maditla sat with her head down as her legal representative, Mr Takalani Muthiwhuthivhi read a statement she made revealing the chilling bare facts of how the lives of the four children ended.
Maditla confessed to “intentionally and unlawfully” taking the young lives, and what led her to the decision.
She claimed to be emotionally broken when she discovered that the father of her two youngest children and her partner was seeing another woman.
“I asked him why he did not buy clothes and gifts for the children as it was Christmas.”
Maditla said she felt hurt, tired and drained.
“I wanted to kill myself and my children.”
When she got into a taxi to go back home, she noticed a hawker selling rat poison and bought some for R10.
“When I got home, the children were playing outside. I mixed the poison with some achar and put it on bread, then called my three eldest children to come and eat lunch.”
She then mixed more poison with yogurt, smeared it on her breast and breastfed Ettiene.
“The children later complained of severe headaches. I covered them with blankets and went to the Spaza Shop to buy Disprin, which they did not have. When I returned, the children were not breathing. When I touched them, they felt cold.”
This all happened on December 27.
When asked by a neighbor where the children were, Maditla lied about their whereabouts and went on a drinking spree with friends.
The mother told the court she had every intention of killing herself and said that she had taken the rat poison on two separate occasions.
On December 29 she went back to the father of the youngest children and handed him the keys to the room she rented and told him she was going away and had locked the children in the room.
“I did not have the courage to tell him what I had done.”
Maditla’s mother, Ms Beulah Martin phoned and told her the landlord, Ms Mathilda Mahlangu is concerned because there are a lot of flies in her room and they were not sure what attracted the flies.
The family broke the door of the room open and made the gruesome discovery.
Maditla handed herself over to the police on December 30.
She was rushed to the hospital because she told police she just ate some more rat poison.
Advocate Ntsika Mpolweni representing the state said they have three witnesses on hand to testify.
Mr Muthiwhuthivhi said Maditla will take the stand and testify in mitigation of sentence.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Mpumalanga has welcomed the conviction handed to Maditla.
Still, Maditla’s family stands behind her, “She needs us now more than ever. Hearing the details broke our hearts, but we still embrace Zinhle despite what she had done,” Mr Kevin Balance, grandfather of the four children said.
