THEY DIED IN FRONT OF ME

The mother of three brothers allegedly poisoned by their father is battling to come to terms with their deaths

- LESEGO SEOKWANG

A WHITE tent has been erected outside the family home ahead of the mass funeral. Inside, the lounge is deserted because all the women are in a bedroom praying for Ntswaki Khoabane.

But it's little comfort for the grieving she's mother sitting on the mattress overcome with emotion and buries her head in her hands.

Ntswaki's life has been torn apart after three of her five sons died, allegedly at the hands of her husband.

Veli Ngcongwane, the boys' father, allegedly poisoned Lehlohonolo and Katleho Khoabane, and Teboho Ngcongwane while they were preparing for school. Their brother, Neo Khoabane (11), was fighting for his life at the time of going to print - but his three brothers didn't make it. Lehlohonolo (16) and Katleho (13) died at school and Teboho at a nearby clinic.

A devastated Ntswaki is left trying to pick up the pieces and stay strong for Thato (8), the only one of her children who didn't drink the concoction Veli allegedly gave the boys.

She works at the school Lehlohonolo and Katleho attended and watched helplessly as her boys took their last breaths.

It's clear the past few days have taken a toll on the 33-year-old.

"I don't even know how I feel,' Ntswaki tells YOU, speaking from her home in Ratanda township in Heidelberg, Gauteng. "It's like a terrible dream."

Veli (40) tried to take his life after his sons' deaths. He's now facing charges of murder and attempted murder while Ntswaki battles to make sense of it all.

She's known her husband for 17 years and there was no sign he would do something like this, she says. The couple were thinking of legally changing the four elder children's last names to Ngcongwane since they were born before they were married. They never got around to it before the unthinkable happened.