A gloomy sky spat rain in KwaMashu, north of Durban, on Friday morning, matching the sombre mood of dozens of people who watched as a tiny coffin bearing the body of four-year-old rape victim Sanelisiwe Mhlongo was lowered into the ground.
Draped over it was a blue blanket with the words "Love you to the moon and back".
One of the mourners was the mother of the girl's nephew, a 15-year-old boy, who has been arrested in connection with the rape and murder.
The woman, who cannot be identified to protect the identity of her minor son, watched with mixed emotions.
She told the Sunday Times she felt she had failed as a parent.
The 49-year-old mother of four said the teen, her youngest son, had made a confession to her in the presence of police. The boy's father and Sanelisiwe's mother are cousins.
The grade 9 pupil was arrested on Tuesday after Sanelisiwe's naked body was found with stab wounds in dense vegetation behind her home in KwaMashu. The body was found on Heritage Day after Sanelisiwe had been reported missing the previous day.
According to relatives, she had been left in the care of an older uncle who in turn entrusted her into the care of the teenager.
The boy's mother said all her sons had been living at their grandparents' home in KwaMashu after her husband died several years ago. "My failure to be a mother was to separate [from] my children," she said.
"Life started to change when their father died. I couldn't cope with my husband's death and began drinking. I never used to drink before that."
She said she was struggling to come to terms with her youngest being arrested in connection with the crime.
"This whole thing is painful. But I don't have tears - I cried too much when I lost my husband."
The woman described her accused son as a quiet and neat person who recently began behaving suspiciously. But she did not know if he was drinking or taking drugs.
Lost for words
Sanelisiwe's father, Phumlani Majozi, 30, was lost for words when asked to describe his daughter.
"She was so young, she had a good heart," he said.
"I don't have many words to say but I am hurt, because when you have a child you see the future, but when they are taken away from you in this manner it is more painful than an open wound."
Majozi, who lives in Mandeni in northern KwaZulu-Natal, said he received a call from police when Sanelisiwe initially went missing and was asked if he had taken her.
The following day investigators contacted him once again, this time to break the news of her death.
"In the morning I got a call again and they told me the child is no more," Majozi said.
"I went straight to KwaMashu. I saw her as I arrived, she was laying behind a tree. She had no clothes on and the police were busy with the scene.
"When I saw my child in that manner I was so hurt. Even now I have no tears because I am still in disbelief that is there a person who can do something as painful as that to a child."
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Kara said the accused had been placed in a place of safety following his appearance in court.
"The boy appeared in the Ntuzuma magistrate's court on charges of rape and murder. The matter was postponed to October 7 for a formal bail application," she said.
- Additional reporting Lwandile Bhengu and Sandile Ndlovu
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