The office of the Department of Social Development will investigate a case of child neglect and assess the living conditions of the five children to see how best they can be helped.
This comes after a mother had allegedly abandoned her five minors at a home at Maungani village, near Thohoyandou.
This case was first brought to the attention of the social workers some three years ago, but the mother allegedly learned about the report and returned home to assault the children and swore at community members who had reported the case.
"We were informed about the children's pathetic situation and we tried to counsel the mother some three years ago," said the director of Munna Ndi Nnyi, Mr Bardwell Mufunwaini. "But now we have learned that the children have been on their own since December last year."
Some members of the community care centre, who declined to be named, said that they had felt heartbroken when they saw at least five children living in unhealthy conditions, with some of the younger ones eating from dustbins, and reported a case of child neglect to social workers.
Mr Mufunwaini recently visited the children. He found that the mother was not at home. "If she says she is in a distant place where she is working for these children, it is still fine," he said. "But do these young children have to live in a house that mirrors a pigsty? The house smells totally bad, with pots filled with rotting liquids and the floors all wet. These minors need someone to look after them," he said.
The five children are aged between 10 and 17, but the 17-year-old son is seldom at home. "They are all at school. They had no proper school uniforms and all their casual clothes were strewn around the yard and collecting rot and decay, because the 15-year-old son was unable to do washing for himself and his siblings," explained Mufunwaini.
When contacted, the children's mother denied allegations that she was neglecting the children. "I am based at my workplace, where I am not earning much either – so I commute to and from work on a daily basis," she said.
The Department of Social Development's spokesperson, Ms Adele van der Linde, said that the district office would visit the family to assess the situation. "We do not expect our social workers to start with a case and abandon it because someone involved had sworn at them," she said. "The family needs to be assessed in terms of what kind of help they will get. We will investigate the matter as a whole to see how we can assist these young children."