A 19-year-old was arrested for child neglect after three of her four children were found in a cage, Limpopo police said on Friday.
Spokesperson Superintendent Ronel Otto said the woman, who is seven months pregnant, was arrested on Thursday in Zebediela outside Polokwane.
Otto said the police arrested her after her twin boys aged two and a girl aged three were found in the cage, which was barred with a piece of iron.
”It is alleged that human faeces were scattered inside the cage and the children also reeked of urine,” she said.
She said in cages adjacent to the one in which the children were kept, a dog and a pig were found.
The woman, Esmeraldi van Staden, appeared in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Friday and was released on R500 bail. The case was postponed for further investigation. The children were removed to a place of safety.
The woman and her 22-year-old husband live with his parents on the premises.
Otto said investigations were continuing. — Sapa