Once upon a time, in a small city called Avundzo in the Limpopo province, there was a king who had three sons, Shindu, Shivundu and Shivhao. The king’s name was Mavhundo, a very cruel king, if I do say so myself. The king had a big mansion in the whole of the Limpopo province and if you were found with a more beautiful house or any other possession better than the king’s, you were hanged and taken to the crocodile den and thrown inside. The King would throw a party for those who had honoured his wishes and killed any person who disrespected his wealth.

But one day, the Badvembu family moved to Avundzo from a nearby township and from what we heard, the Badvembu family was rich, richer than the men of Limpopo. Mr Badvembu came to work as a commissioner at Avundzo police station and had inherited a mine from his late grandfather a while ago. His wife on the other hand was a magistrate. This whole issue didn’t sit well with the king. He called a meeting with his soldiers and ordered them to tail Mr Badvembu and then report to him every detail. If they came back missing some information, they would be hanged and fed to the crocodile. So the soldiers worked around the clock trying to please King Mavhundo. Some would run away if they had no information to supply and their families would take the punishment and be fed to the Mighty Crocodile. And life would carry on like nothing happened.

So the soldiers searched and searched, day and night, until one day when the great witch of Limpopo, Sevimbi, decided to team up with the king. She had no other way of getting to Mr Badvembu than helping a king destroy the family who disrespected the king’s wealth. And on the other hand, she would gain access to Mr Badvembu’s possessions and everything and everyone would be happy.

The witch told the king that Mr Badvembu had children, seven sons and five daughters and that the sons were attending training to take over the family wealth. So the king ordered his men to find and kill all of Mr Badvembu’s sons and kidnap his daughters so that there wouldn’t be anyone to lift the family name. The soldiers did as they were told and searched for Mr Bavembu’s children. Mr Badvembu heard and tried helping his children run away from this cruel king, but it was too late.

The king’s men had already found and killed four of his sons and captured all five of his daughters. They were then used as slaves and worked long and tiring hours for the king. They worked for months. The conditions they worked under were bad and they only worked for milk and bags of millies. No money, no clothes, only food and a place to sleep. Two of his daughters got sick and died while working. Mr Badvembu was very worried on how his daughters were surviving but there was nothing he could do. The king was a very powerful man and everyone feared him, so Mr Badvembu had no one on his side.

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Tell us: What do you think Mr Badvembu should do to save his daughters?