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A Free State mother is in hospital after poisoning her two children and herself.
Police spokesperson, Colonel Thandi Mbambo, said Harrismith police were called out to the family tragedy on Thursday morning.
She said officers found the lifeless bodies of two children, aged three- months and 9-years-old, while their 31-year-old mother was found lying on the floor of a house in the Tshiame township.
She said the woman allegedly took the children to a relative and told her what she had done before she collapsed.
“It is alleged that the relative was awakened by a knock on the door and was met by the mother who was carrying her three-month-old baby.
She allegedly brought the kids one after the other, and indicated that she fed them poison and also drank it herself," Mbambo said.
Mbambo said the children were declared dead on the scene while their mother was rushed to the hospital where she is in critical condition.
The victims were identified as Rethabile and baby Naledi Dladla.
Police have opened two murder dockets for further investigation.
The motive for the murders and attempted suicide is still unknown to the police.
This follows just days after a similar tragedy in Bedford in the Eastern Cape where a police constable shot her three children before turning the gun on herself.
Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana says the tragic incident took place at the Police Barracks on Sunday morning.
It is alleged that the Constable shot her six-year-old twins and her nine-year-old child before turning the gun on herself.
One of the twins died on the scene whilst the other two were injured and taken to hospital for medical treatment.
The circumstances surrounding the incident is still under investigation.
Police did not release the names of the deceased.
